With Malice Aforethought

Australian Insults, Invective, Ridicule & Abuse

by Bill Wannan

Lansdowne Press, 1973, [First Edition], ISBN 071802472, black and white line drawings, hardcover, dustjacket

Very Good Condition, minor edge and shelf wear, minor rubbing and bumping to edges and corners, no inscriptions, dustjacket shows minor edge and shelf wear with minor rubbing and bumping, minor discolouration (see photographs)

“When the great and the famous step down from their pinnacles of power and self esteem and indulge in name calling and attempts at public ridicule of their enemies, the shedding of the aura of position and sagacity is as dramatic as it is delightful.  Their fall is a correspondingly uplifting experience for the common man who, well versed in the daily routine of abuse and snide criticism, sees it publicly applied by those he thought about it.  Who has not revelled in the indignities of parliamentary abuse, or watched an edifice of authority or respectability crumble under a single, well placed thrust of malice in print or from a public platform?  Bill Wannan’s collection of Australian curses and vituperations includes both public verbal bludgeoning’s and the subtle barbs and twists of the knife that have seemingly equal capacity to leave the victim spreadeagled and defenceless”