Don Watson has 4 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 2 narrators. The most-rated is The Bush.
On Indignation
Summary
With characteristic wit, Don Watson has updated his classic essay to explore indignation in our post-truth world. Don Watson takes us on a journey of indignation and how it has been expressed in his forebears. His ire towards US politicians has a new moving target: Donald Trump. The US President's primary pitch had less to do with giving people money or security than it was about vengeance. Trump exploited the anger we feel when we are slighted or taken for granted, turning the politics of a sophisticated democracy into something more like a blood feud. He promised to restore their dignity, slay their enemies, remake the world according to old rites and customs. He stirred their indignation into tribal rage and rode it into the White House. It was a scam, of course, but wherever there is indignation, lies and stupidity abound.
©2019 Don Watson (P)2019 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd
Quarterly Essay 63 Enemy Within
Summary
In Essay 63, with characteristic wit and acuity, Don Watson takes us on a journey into the heart of the United States in the year 2016. Plunging into the apparent chaos of the presidential campaign and tracing America's recent past, he puts Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, and Bernie Sanders in a larger frame. He considers the irresistible pull - for Americans - of American exceptionalism, and asks whether this creed is reaching its limit. He explores alternative paths the United States could have taken, and asks where its present course might lead Australia as a dutiful ally.
©2016 Don Watson (P)2016 Audible, Ltd
Watsonia
Summary
No other writer has journeyed further into the soul of Australia and returned to tell the tale than best seller Don Watson in this mesmerising anthology. "When you write speeches for other people for a living, any audience is a good audience. I address walls and poultry: I stand on a wheelbarrow and give after-dinner speeches as the moon rises over the fowl yard. I say, eight-and-a-half generations of you fowls I have known. The chooks treat it as a diversion, of course. They get on with the main game. They are pragmatists. Why change it if it works, they reckon, and tilt their heads back and let the water run down their throats." (Don Watson) Watsonia gathers the fruits of a writing life. It covers everything from Australian humour to America gone berserk; from Don Bradman to Oscar Wilde; from birds and horses to history and politics. Wherever Don Watson turns his incisive gaze, the results are as illuminating as they are enjoyable. Watsonia displays the many sides of Don Watson: historian, speechwriter, social critic, humourist, biographer and lover of nature and sports. Replete with wit, wisdom and diverse pleasures, this comprehensive collection includes a wide-ranging introduction by the author and several previously unpublished pieces.
©2020 Don Watson (P)2020 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd
The Bush
Summary
An enthralling journey, showcasing Watson's trademark literary gift and sardonic wit, through the Australian landscape and character. While most Australians live in cities clinging to the coastal fringe, our sense of what an Australian is, or should be, is drawn from the vast and varied inland called the bush. But what do we mean by 'the bush', and how has it shaped us? Starting with his forebears' battle to drive back nature and eke a living from the land, Don Watson explores the bush as it was and as it now is: the triumphs and the ruination, the commonplace and the bizarre, the stories we like to tell about ourselves and the national character, and those we don't. A milestone work of memoir, travel writing and history, The Bush takes us on a profoundly revelatory and entertaining journey through the Australian landscape and character.
©2014 Don Watson (P)2017 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd