Don Watson. The Passion of Private White. Sydney: Scribner Australia, 2022. 326 pp.

• Main Author: Pertierra, Raul
• Format: text
• Published: Archīum Ateneo 2022
• Online Access: https://archium.ateneo.edu/stjgs/vol10/iss2/17; https://archium.ateneo.edu/context/stjgs/article/1025/viewcontent/ST_2010.2_205_20Book_20review_20__20Pertierra.pdf
• Institution: Ateneo De Manila University

Excerpt from Book Review: This is both an impressive but also a puzzling book. Don Watson is a gifted writer. His book deals with a complex subject—a passionately driven Vietnam veteran (Neville White) who studies anthropology and devotes his life to helping Donydji, a remote Aboriginal community in Arnhem Land, in the north of Australia. The condition of Australian Aborigines is shocking and reveals the impossibility of modern states to understand, let alone assist them in preserving their culture and traditions as a holistic means of coexisting with mainstream Australian society! The book begins by introducing Neville White and his interest in improving the living conditions of a small and isolated aboriginal community whose members try to preserve their indigenous lifeways. White is a biological anthropologist interested in discovering the genetic differences of Australian Aborigines and the effects of the environment in shaping their response to the daunting conditions of contemporary society.