With his `in-your-face¿ style and intellectual background, Gordon Bennett has become one of Australia¿s leading contemporary artists. He has garnered international critical acclaim for the complex ways in which his work engages with historical and contemporary issues of cultural and personal identity ¿ with a focus on the interaction between Australia¿s indigenous, colonial, and postcolonial identities. This visually stimulating volume presents a thorough analysis of Bennett¿s practices and complex body of work to date, as well as a never before published intimate and revealing conversation between the artist and his long term associate Bill Wright

This is a biography of Bennett, the founder, editor and publisher of the New York Herald. After many failed attempts at starting a newspaper, Bennett began the Herald in May 1835. Bennett was known for a lot of journalism "firsts," including the pay-in-advance policy for advertisers, adding illustrations produced from woodcuts, and, in 1839, being granted the first exclusive interview with a United States President, Martin Van Buren. While the Herald was officially independent in its politics, Bennett endorsed William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor, James K. Polk, Franklin Pierce, and John C. Frémont. He supported James Buchanan as tensions rose over slavery and endorsed John C. Breckinridge for the 1860 presidential campaign, then shifted to John Bell. He promoted George B. McClellan in 1864. Bennett favored the Union, although he opposed Abraham Lincoln, he later took the lead to turn the president into a martyr after his assassination. He favored most of Andrew Johnson's Reconstruction proposals. By the time Bennett turned control of the Herald over to his son James Jr. in 1866, it had the highest circulation in America. However, under the younger Bennetts' stewardship, the paper declined, and, after his death, it was merged with the New York Tribune.

The 1866 transatlantic yacht race was a match that saw three yachts battle their way across the Atlantic in the dead of winter in pursuit of a $90,000 prize. Six men died in the brutal and close-fought contest, and the event changed the perception of yachting from a slightly effete gentlemen's pursuit into something altogether more rugged and adventurous. The race also symbolized the beginning of America's 'gilded age', with its associated obscene wealth and largesse (the $90,000 prize put up by the three contestants is about $15 million in today's money), as well as the thawing of relations between the US and UK. The narrative focuses on the victorious yacht Henrietta and her owner James Gordon Bennett. Bennett was the son of the multimillionaire proprietor of the New York Herald, and a notorious playboy. His infamous stunts included driving his carriage through the streets of New York naked, tipping a railway porter $30,000, and turning up at his own engagement party blind drunk and mistaking the fire for a urinal, which led to the coining of the phrase 'Gordon Bennett!'. However, Bennett was also a serious yachtsman and had served with distinction during the civil war aboard Henrietta, and he was the only owner to be aboard his own boat during the race. Other characters include Bennett's captain Samuel Samuels (legendary clipper skipper, ex-convict and occasional vaudeville actor), financier Leonard Jerome, aboard Henrietta as race invigilator (he also happened to be grandfather to Winston Churchill) and Stephen Fisk, a journalist so desperate to cover the race that he evaded a summons to appear as a witness in court and instead smuggled himself aboard Henrietta in a crate of champagne. Using the framework of the race to discuss the various historical themes, there's ample drama, and the diverse and eccentric range of characters ensure that this is a book laced with plenty of human interest, scandal and adventure.

Bennett begins by discussing his childhood in the Depression and drought era in Scobey, Montana, mentioning the desperation that led to the election of communists in the '30s. He talks about the rise of the Farmers Union in Montana and the business of farming in the state; the issue of press control by the Anaconda Company; and his involvement in Lee Metcalf's political campaigns. He contrasts Metcalf and Mansfield, describes his involvement in Forest Anderson's campaign and discusses other Montana politicians he has known.

This fresh, poignant first novel features two siblings who will capture readers's hearts in the manner of Salinger's Franny and Zooey. Army brats Teddy and Cora are constantly on the move from base to base with their warring parents. With their edgy intelligence and precocious charm, this duo jumps off the page and pulls readers into their hearts.