A thoroughly researched and documented history of a seminal idea, from its inception by Augustine through to its various manifestations down the centuries, both inside and outside the Church

**WINNER OF THE HISTORY AND TRADITION CATEGORY, EAST ANGLIAN BOOK AWARDS 2020** **SHORTLISTED FOR THE TASMANIAN LITERARY AWARD 2022** **LONGLISTED FOR THE RSL ONDAATJE PRIZE 2021** 'A real page-turner ... a warning about what happens when the rich and powerful dress up their avarice as "progress" - a lesson we could do with learning today.' Dixe Wills, BBC Countryfile magazine FROM A MULTI-AWARD-WINNING HISTORIAN, AN ARRESTING NEW HISTORY OF THE BATTLE FOR THE FENS. Between the English Civil Wars and the mid-Victorian period, the proud indigenous population of the Fens of eastern England fought to preserve their homeland against an expanding empire. After centuries of resistance, their culture and community were destroyed, along with their wetland home - England's last lowland wilderness. But this was no simple triumph of technology over nature - it was the consequence of a newly centralised and militarised state, which enriched the few while impoverishing the many. In this colourful and evocative history, James Boyce brings to life not only colonial masters such as Oliver Cromwell and the Dukes of Bedford but also the defiant 'Fennish' them- selves and their dangerous and often bloody resistance to the enclosing landowners. We learn of the eels so plentiful they became a kind of medieval currency; the games of 'Fen football' that were often a cover for sabotage of the drainage works; and the destruction of a bountiful ecosystem that had sustained the Fennish for thousands of years and which meant that they did not have to submit in order to survive. Masterfully argued and imbued with a keen sense of place, Imperial Mud reimagines not just the history of the Fens, but the history and identity of the English people.

"Original sin is the Western world's creation story." According to the Christian doctrine of original sin, humans are born inherently bad, and only through God's grace can they achieve salvation. In this captivating and controversial book, acclaimed historian James Boyce explores how this centuries-old concept has shaped the Western view of human nature right up to the present. Boyce traces a history of original sin from Adam and Eve, St. Augustine, and Martin Luther to Adam Smith, Sigmund Freud, and Richard Dawkins, and explores how each has contributed to shaping our conception of original sin. Boyce argues that despite the marked decline in church attendance in recent years, religious ideas of morality still very much underpin our modern secular society, regardless of our often being unaware of their origins. If today the specific doctrine has all but disappeared (even from churches), what remains is the distinctive discontent of Western people--the feelings of guilt and inadequacy associated not with doing wrong, but with being wrong. In addition to offering an innovative history of Christianity, Boyce offers new insights in to the creation of the West. Born Bad is the sweeping story of a controversial idea and the remarkable influence it still wields.

The Age Book of the Year 2012
'A first-class piece of historical writing' - The Sunday Age

Shortlisted for the Australian History Prize in the 2012 Prime Minister's Literary Awards, the History Prize in the 2012 Queensland Literary Awards, and the Non-Fiction Prize in the 2012 Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature, 2012 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards and 2011 WA Premier's Book Awards.

With the founding of Melbourne in 1835, a flood of settlers began spreading out across the Australian continent. In three years more land - and more people - was conquered than in the preceding fifty.

In 1835 James Boyce brings this pivotal moment to life. He traces the power plays in Hobart, Sydney and London, and describes the key personalities of Melbourne's early days. He conjures up the Australian frontier - its complexity, its rawness and the way its legacy is still with us today. And he asks the poignant question largely ignored for 175 years: could it have been different?

With his first book, Van Diemen's Land, Boyce introduced an utterly fresh approach to the nation's history. 'In re-imagining Australia's past, ' Richard Flanagan wrote, 'it invents a new future.' 1835 continues this untold story.

'Boyce is a graceful and robust stylist and a fine storyteller and he organises his material beautifully. His book ... deserves a wide audience.' The Sunday Age

'1835 is a date to be remembered and this is a book to be pondered.' The Sun-Herald

About the author

James Boyce's first book, Van Diemen's Land, won the Tasmania Book Prize and the Colin Roderick Award and was shortlisted for the NSW, Victorian and Queensland premiers' literary awards, as well as the Prime Minister's award. Tim Flannery described it as 'a brilliant book and a must-read for anyone interested in how land shapes people.' Boyce wrote the Tasmania chapter for First Australians, the companion book to the acclaimed SBS TV series. He has a PhD from the University of Tasmania, where he is an honorary research associate of the School of Geography and Environmental Studies.

The story begins with the toppling of a premier, and ends with David Walsh, the man behind MONA, taking an eccentric stand against pokie machines and the political status quo. It is a story of broken politics and back-room deals. It shows how giving one company the licence to all the poker machines in Tasmania has led to several hundred million dollars of profits (mainly from problem gamblers) being diverted from public use, through a series of questionable and poorly understood deals. Losing Streak is a meticulous, compelling case study in governance failure, which has implications for pokies reform throughout Australia.

Almost half of the convicts who came to Australia came to Van Diemen's Land. There they found a land of bounty and a penal society, a kangaroo economy and a new way of life. In this book, James Boyce shows how the convicts were changed by the natural world they encountered. Escaping authority, they soon settled away from the towns, dressing in kangaroo skin and living off the land. Behind the official attempt to create a Little England was another story of adaptation, in which the poor, the exiled and the criminal made a new home in a strange land. This is their story, the story of Van Diemen's Land. Praise Van Diemen's Land: "A brilliant book and a must-read for anyone interested in how land shapes people."-Tim Flannery "The most significant colonial history since The Fatal Shore. In re-imagining Australia's past, it invents a new future."-Richard Flanagan "Like the best history, Van Diemen's Land is not an art-fully constructed narrative with the (inevitably inadequate) evidence banished to endnotes, but a dialogue between historian and reader as they explore the fragile sources, and the silences, together." -Inga Clendinnen "The publication of Van Diemen's Land signals an entirely fresh approach to Australian history-writing ... This is a brilliant publication." -Alan Atkinson "A fresh and sparkling account." -Henry Reynolds