{"product_id":"2026100010402-secondhand-wowsers","title":"Wowsers","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition remarks:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBook: Good\u003cbr\u003eJacket: Wear and tear with damage\u003cbr\u003ePages: Yellowed\u003cbr\u003eMarkings: Previous owner\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the sunburned moral landscape of colonial and early Federation Australia, a peculiar breed of crusader rose to prominence — the wowser, a figure of relentless, puritanical zeal determined to stamp out the pleasures of drinking, smoking, gambling, and every other vice that made life bearable. Wowsers chronicles the remarkable — and often absurd — careers of the men and women who waged ferocious campaigns against personal liberty in the name of public virtue, painting a vivid portrait of an Australia gripped by temperance movements, censorship battles, and Sunday-closing laws that shaped the nation's social fabric for generations.\n\nKeith Dunstan writes with a wickedly dry wit, wielding irony and meticulous research in equal measure to illuminate how profoundly these moralistic crusaders influenced Australian legislation, culture, and identity. The work stands as a landmark of Australian social history, revealing that the tension between individual freedom and collective morality is not a modern invention but a fiercely contested battleground stretching back to the nation's earliest days. One is left to wonder: in an age of new moral panics and renewed calls for censorship, has the wowser truly ever left the building?\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Secondhand Stock","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50736156016859,"sku":"2026100010402-SECONDHAND","price":15.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0523\/7646\/9701\/files\/b25c57e4-69b1-4b61-bfe9-7dd8ea5771c0.png?v=1792122519","url":"https:\/\/bookgrocer.com\/products\/2026100010402-secondhand-wowsers","provider":"Book Grocer","version":"1.0","type":"link"}