Australian History/Culture
Book Details

The Artificial Horizon

Imagining the Blue Mountains

Martin Thomas

The author leads his readers through the cultural history of the Blue Mountains west of Sydney in order to probe the 'dreamwork of imperialism'.

Awards

Winner of The Gleebooks Prize, 2004 NSW Premier's Literary Awards
Shortlisted for the Award for Non-Fiction, 2004 Festival Awards for Literature
Shortlisted for the Award for Innovation in Writing, 2004 Festival Awards for Literature

Opinion

A 'profound and beautiful book, a study--part history, part elegy--of all the Blue Mountains have come to mean in Australian consciousness . . . it is hard to stop reading.' (Weekend Australian, 22-23/11/2003)

'Thomas is our guide [through the Blue Mountains], conducting a leisurely, informed and discursive ramble through a cultural history of the Blue Mountains, taking in art and exploration, the presence and absence of indigenous people, suicide, tourism and myth.' (Sydney Morning Herald, 8-9/11/2003)

About this Title

'The blue curtain admits cliff-top spectacles of deeply worn valleys and sandstone outcrops. They are ancient and affecting, capable of prompting the most extreme reactions: they can move you to tears, or love, or even--quite literally--to death.'

This award winning book explores the myths that form the meanings of the Blue Mountains, Martin Thomas's beautifully crafted prose takes the reader on a compelling journey through culture, landscape and mythology.

For both Aboriginal people and their colonisers, the rugged landscape of the Blue Mountains has stood as an intriguing riddle and a stimulus to the imagination. The author evokes this dramatic and bewildering landscape and leads his readers through the cultural history of the locality in order to probe the 'dreamwork of imperialism'. Beautifuly illustrated and critically acclaimed, The Artificial Horizon will delight.

About the Author

Martin Thomas studied history at the University of Sydney and cultural studies at the University of Technology, Sydney. He has worked as a writer, editor, and radio producer. Presently a research fellow in the Department of History at the University of Sydney. Martin Thomas is the 2004 winner of the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Gleebooks' Prize for Literary and Cultural Criticism.

978-0-522-85151-9