The Meanjin winter issue takes on the culture wars. It’s an essential primer in this election season written by Melbourne academic Mark Davis, the man who brought you Gangland, the book that revealed the baby boomer cultural monopoly. Now Davis turns his attention to the shady world of cultural politics, a world dominated by race, climate, and irrational fear. Why does our public debate keep retreating to the familiar tropes of the culture wars, and why does this conversation feature so many recurring themes and characters?

Elsewhere in the issue, Clive James muses on writing, death and epitaphs ahead of the publication of his Collected Poems. Jenny Hocking traces the profound links between Australian Rules football and the Indigenous Australian game of Marngrook, while Robyn Annear marvels at her mother’s hair. There’s a critical essay on a favourite piece of fiction from Anna Funder, and a serious piece of research from Denis Muller that details just what the Australian public really thinks about immigration and asylum seekers. Katharine Murphy reflects on a working life punctuated by election campaigns and the lessons they offer, Osman Faruqi wonders just why it is that Australian media is so, well, white, and Glyn Davis and Ian Anderson chart a selection of moments from the long history of post colonial Indigenous politics. There’s new fiction from Michael McGirr, Alice Bishop and Ben Walter and a bumper crop of fresh poetry, with work from Stuart Cooke, Eileen Chong, Sarah Holland-Batt and many more.