Varun Ghosh

Varun Ghosh reviews 'Audacity: How Barack Obama defied his critics and created a legacy that will prevail' by Jonathan Chait and 'We Are The Change We Seek: The speeches of Barack Obama' edited by E.J. Dionne Jr and Joy-Ann Reid

June-July 2017, no. 392 • 25 May 2017

What is Barack Obama’s legacy? That deceptively simple question forms the subject of Jonathan Chait’s new book, Audacity. Across seven disparate chapters, the book ‘makes the case that Obama succeeded’ – that he ‘accomplished nearly everything he set out to do, and he set out to do an enormous amount’. ... (read more)

Varun Ghosh reviews 'Born to Run' by Bruce Springsteen

March 2017, no. 389 • 28 February 2017

‘I come from a boardwalk town where almost everything is tinged with a bit of fraud. So am I.’ Thus begins the captivating autobiography of Bruce Springsteen. No treacly guitar man’s reminiscence, Born to Run grapples with the trickier paradoxes of family, love, mental illness, and musical success. At turns confessional and unapologetic, sentimental and honest, funny and devastating, Born to ... (read more)

Varun Ghosh reviews 'Benaud: An appreciation' by Brian Matthews

January–February 2017, no. 388 • 21 December 2016

For more than half a century, Richie Benaud (1930–2015) graced the game of cricket around the world. A dashing batsman and fierce leg-spinner, Benaud was the first player to score 2,000 runs and take 200 wickets in Test cricket. As Australian captain, he never lost a series and championed an attractive, attacking brand of cricket. As a television commentator for Channel Nine in Australia and Cha ... (read more)

Varun Ghosh reviews 'Born to Rule' by Paddy Manning

December 2015, no. 377 • 25 November 2015

Since deposing Tony Abbott on 14 September 2015, Malcolm Turnbull has dominated Australian politics like a colossus. Turnbull's triumph, though long expected, happened quickly. The sense of national relief that followed was profound. The preceding eight years of Australian politics – scarcely the apotheosis of democratic governance – had produced intense public frustration. Turnbull's ascensio ... (read more)

Varun Ghosh reviews 'The Stranger' by Chuck Todd

May 2015, no. 371 • 29 April 2015

It is sometimes easy to forget that Barack Obama ascended from the Illinois state senate to the presidency of the United States in just over four years. It was a steep rise – exhilarating and unprecedented. Since assuming office in January 2009, the road has been rockier, and it is Obama’s seven years in office that form the subject of Chuck Todd’s The Stranger. The title of the book refers ... (read more)