Frank Bongiorno

Francis Robert Bongiorno, AM, FASSA, FAHA (born 1969) is an Australian historian, academic and author. He is a Professor of History at the Australian National University, and has been head of the university's history department since 2018.[1][2]

Frank Bongiorno
Born1969 (age 51–52)
Nhill, Victoria
AwardsFellow of the Royal Historical Society (2010)
ACT Book of the Year (2013, 2016)
Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (2017)
Member of the Order of Australia (2019)
Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities (2019)
Academic background
Alma materUniversity of Melbourne (BA [Hons])
Australian National University (PhD)
ThesisLabour and Politics in Victoria, 1885–1914 (1994)
Doctoral advisorKen Inglis
Academic work
InstitutionsAustralian National University
King's College London
University of New England
Griffith University
Main interestsLabour, political and cultural history
Notable worksThe Sex Lives of Australians: A History (2012)
The Eighties: The Decade That Transformed Australia (2015)

Education and academic career

Bongiorno was born in Nhill, Victoria, and received an undergraduate honours degree from the University of Melbourne and doctorate from the Australian National University (ANU). He lectured at ANU in 1994, was a research officer in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in 1995, and lectured at Griffith University in 1996. He then was an Australian Research Council postdoctoral in 1997, was Smuts Visiting Fellow in Commonwealth Studies at the University of Cambridge and Mellon Visiting Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin in 1997–1998, and returned to his ARC fellowship from 1998 to 2000. Bongiorno subsequently lectured at the University of New England from 2000 to 2007, King's College London from 2007 to 2011 and at ANU as an associate professor from 2011 to 2016 before being promoted to professor. Between 1996 and 2011, Bongiorno devoted himself to reviewing, editing and writing, publishing an impressive number of academic articles. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, and the Australian Academy of the Humanities.[1][3][4] He been a frequent contributor to Inside Story, The Conversation and The Monthly.[3][5] Bongiorno was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in the 2019 Australia Day Honours in recognition of his "significant service to tertiary education in the field of history."[6]

Scholarship

Bongiorno's first book, The People's Party: Victorian Labor and the Radical Tradition 1875–1914 was positively reviewed by The Australian, which described it as a "solid historical work", as was his second, A Little History of the Australian Labor Party, which was described as "fascinating" and "plainly expressed".[7][8]

Bongiorno achieved greater recognition with his third book, The Sex Lives of Australians: A History, described as "serious" but "lively and engaging" by the Daily Telegraph, "highly readable, serious history about our most intimate yet most culturally sensitive selves" by the Canberra Times, while Sydney Morning Herald wrote that it "affords Australian sexuality a much-needed centrality in terms of explaining and understanding the evolution of our society and of our culture" and The Advertiser wrote that "[Bongiorno] barges into the bedrooms of our forebears to show us a rarely seen side of their lives".[9][10][11][12] It was short-listed for the 2013 Prime Minister's Literary Awards and won the ACT Book of the Year award. It was later reported that his book had been the judges' recommendation for the Prime Minister's awards, but had been personally overturned by Kevin Rudd as "unacceptable".[13][14][15]

Bongiorno's fourth book, The Eighties: The Decade That Transformed Australia was described by The Australian as "meaty and entertaining" and by The Age as a "rattling account, quick-cut and filmic, of contrasting, often overlapping, events: high and low culture, the big moments nestling in the finer long-forgotten detail". Author Tom Keneally described it as an "elegantly written and imaginative recounting of the time", historian Clare Wright as having "narrative flair and an eagle-eye for vulgar detail", while conservative columnist Gerard Henderson labelled it a "one-sided dumb history".[16][17][18][19][20] The Eighties also won the ACT Book of the Year award.[1]

Bibliography

Author
  • — (1996). The People's Party: Victorian Labor and the Radical Tradition, 1875–1914. Carlton, Victoria: Melbourne University Press. ISBN 0522847382.
  • —; Dyrenfurth, Nick (2011). A Little History of the Australian Labor Party. Kensington, New South Wales: University of New South Wales Press. ISBN 9781742232843.
  • — (2012). The Sex Lives of Australians: A History. Collingwood, Victoria: Black Inc. ISBN 9781863955676.
    • — (2015). The Sex Lives of Australians: A History (2nd ed.). Collingwood, Victoria: Black Inc. ISBN 9781863957076.
  • — (2015). The Eighties: The Decade That Transformed Australia. Collingwood, Victoria: Black Inc. ISBN 9781863957762.

Editor
  • —; Bridge, Carl; Lee, David, eds. (2010). The High Commissioners: Australia's Representatives in the United Kingdom, 1910–2010. Barton, Australian Capital Territory: Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. ISBN 9781921612107.
  • —; Jones, Benjamin T.; Uhr, John, eds. (2018). Elections Matter: Ten Federal Elections That Shaped Australia. Clayton, Victoria: Monash University Publishing. ISBN 9781925523157.

References
  1. "Dr Frank Bongiorno". Australian National University. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  2. "Tony Abbott blamed over failure of Western civilisation course". The Australian. 5 June 2018. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  3. "Frank Bongiorno". The Conversation. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  4. "Fellows: Frank Bongiorno". Australian Academy of the Humanities. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
  5. "Frank Bongiorno". The Monthly. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  6. "Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia (A–L)" (PDF). Australia Day 2019 Honours List. Office of the Governor-General of Australia. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 January 2019. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  7. "What's new from Australian publishers". The Australian. 6 November 1996.
  8. "A crash (or crash through) course in civilising capitalism". The Australian. 11 June 2011.
  9. "Book Reviews". Daily Telegraph. 14 July 2012.
  10. "An intimate picture". The Canberra Times. 21 July 2012.
  11. "Birds, bees and gum trees". Sydney Morning Herald. 21 July 2012.
  12. "Kiss & tell". The Advertiser. 21 July 2012.
  13. "PM names literary awards shortlist". The Age. 18 June 2013.
  14. "Sex lives are a winner for author". Canberra Times. 2 April 2014.
  15. "Sex and lies and captain's picks". Sydney Morning Herald. 11 June 2016.
  16. "Short memories of the 1980s". The Australian. 30 October 2015.
  17. "The Dismissal and dumb history". The Australian. 13 November 2015.
  18. "But what did it all really mean?". The Age. 21 November 2015.
  19. "The words we loved". The Age. 12 December 2015.
  20. "Best books of the year". The Australian. 18 December 2015.
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