Scan barcode
A review by ironfang
Welcome to Country youth edition by Marcia Langton
3.0
Writing this review a little early as the writing style is unlikely to change -
A very solid 3/5. An informative book but that's not always necessarily an interesting read.
The writing is very reminiscent of a textbook in many regards, which is fine if this is intended to be a reference material. If it is, it's a relatively effective one as the organisation of the book makes it easy enough to find what specific information you're looking for and I felt the information presented was fairly thorough. Welcome To Country definitely will teach you something, I'm confident of saying that regardless of someone's background.
Perhaps as an extension of feeling like a textbook, the general tone and writing of this book is incredibly dry. Sometimes, this felt entirely appropriate as it's difficult to discuss things such as the implications and significance of legal recognition in a way that isn't spending time telling the reader how property law or Native Title work, for example. However, feeling as though the chapters about art and performance that represent both present culture and some 65,000 years of human history were entirely uninspiring left me feeling like the writing style really missed the mark. This stood out to me particularly with the 'youth edition' label as while a lot of what the book covers is important and may not necessarily be covered thoroughly in schools, I don't feel the writing would really interest the average young person reading outside of being presented to them in lesson time.
I don't think I'd actively steer anyone away from picking this up if they have a genuine interest in what it covers, though. Definitely expect to treat it like a textbook despite being published by under a travel label though!
A very solid 3/5. An informative book but that's not always necessarily an interesting read.
The writing is very reminiscent of a textbook in many regards, which is fine if this is intended to be a reference material. If it is, it's a relatively effective one as the organisation of the book makes it easy enough to find what specific information you're looking for and I felt the information presented was fairly thorough. Welcome To Country definitely will teach you something, I'm confident of saying that regardless of someone's background.
Perhaps as an extension of feeling like a textbook, the general tone and writing of this book is incredibly dry. Sometimes, this felt entirely appropriate as it's difficult to discuss things such as the implications and significance of legal recognition in a way that isn't spending time telling the reader how property law or Native Title work, for example. However, feeling as though the chapters about art and performance that represent both present culture and some 65,000 years of human history were entirely uninspiring left me feeling like the writing style really missed the mark. This stood out to me particularly with the 'youth edition' label as while a lot of what the book covers is important and may not necessarily be covered thoroughly in schools, I don't feel the writing would really interest the average young person reading outside of being presented to them in lesson time.
I don't think I'd actively steer anyone away from picking this up if they have a genuine interest in what it covers, though. Definitely expect to treat it like a textbook despite being published by under a travel label though!