My Country includes early works, such as his review of the first Rocky Horror Picture Show and his reporting on the 1978 Mardi Gras police bashings, all the way to the most piercing accounts of Kevin Rudd ratfing and Tony Abbott punch. Along the way there is Patrick White, Garfield Barwick, asylum seekers, the Henson case, Pauline Hanson, Cardinal Pell and more. My Country anthologises Marr powerful reflections on religion, sex, censorship and the law; striking accounts of leaders, moralists and scandalmongers; elegant ruminations on the arts and the lives of artists. And there are some memorable new pieces, including the remarkable story of David Marr wedding day.

"Reprinted in 2019"--Verso of title page. PERSONAL DETAILS -- Shame and forgiveness -- Holes in the road -- Send down the rain -- The image of man -- Hanging onto facts -- My marriage was a house of cards -- Life and death -- WHITLAM -- 1975 dismissal diary -- The women in John Kerr's life -- The wreckage left behind -- Fraser's first cabinet meeting -- Edward Gough Whitlam shuffles off his mortal coil -- POLITICAL HISTORY -- Franz Ferdinand and the guns of Narromine -- The night Ben Chiffey died -- John Howard's enterprising father -- Gorton's last secrets -- With Charles and Di in the desert -- Sydney, the irrestible city -- Bob Carr holds the fort -- ARTS AND ARTISTS -- Harry Seidler vs Patrick Cook -- A mistress with the clippers -- Stanley Hawes: an honourable man a long way from home -- Lutyens fight the last battle of the Somme -- Hill end: hard country, good painting -- Mr Mitchell's library -- MONA: art in the dark -- Margaret Tuckson: the widow and the paintings -- SKIN IN THE GAME -- Cairn, 1974 -- The betrayal of the hopes of 1967 -- John Howard, faith and race -- The lingering fear of blacks -- AUSTRALIA UNDER HOWARD -- Australian politics in a nutshell -- Pauline slays Tasmania -- Brian Harradine's lunch -- Abbott & Costello vs Ellis -- Australia: so British underneath -- Jones, laws and cash for comment -- The Queen makes a comeback -- Beying for border protection -- Beazley's last land -- Arne Rinnan, sailor -- PINK PAGES -- A night out at the cross -- Bigots in the name of Christ -- Conigrave's candour -- Myths and lessons of Stonewall -- A politician in the steam -- The business model of the faiths -- MODERN WARFARE -- A note on the language -- Manning Clark, Soviet spy -- Saving the nation from Salo -- What's left these days? -- A common humanity -- Australia, land without rights -- Andrew Bolt bites the dust -- The fright of our lives -- Chris Kenny fucks one dog... -- HOWARD'S END -- The old Voltairean -- Wheat and chaff -- Kingaroy farewells Joh -- Shock jocks on the beaches -- Slapstick and the veep -- Haneef's week in the watch house -- Farewell to a fine old bastard -- THE WRITING TRADE -- Demidenko: history, horror and fairytales -- McNeil's life sentence -- I had written him a letter -- farewell, dark spirit -- Last train to Venice -- Staying out of the picture -- The wisdom of Malouf -- Patrick White: the final chapter -- TABLE FOR TWO -- And Rudd came among us... -- 2020 -- The Henson panic -- A chill in the death zone -- Time on Christmas Island -- Build on the rock and not upon the dsand -- On the beach with Rudd -- Eloquence or else -- MacKillop makes good -- If at first -- Pell's nod -- Job for the blameless -- A few sleeps to victory -- BACK IN SAFE HANDS -- Tony Abbott: freedom rider -- Slamming the door -- Faction man -- Behing closed doors in St KIlda -- Not far to fall -- Torture in the Pacfific -- Rome, a hard beast to wrangle -- Malcolm on the western front -- Falling in love again -- Once is enough --