"Hutchinson has drawn together a deeply researched and broadly sourced study of the settler colonial and metropolitan press. ... Hutchinson has created a carefully plotted genealogy for mediated discourses on colonial dispossession ... . Settlers, War, and Empire in the Press delivers an innovative model to uncover the logics and affective character of the settler colonial project in the digital newspaper archive." (Keir Wotherspoon, Australian Historical Studies, July 11, 2022)
"Hutchinson has produced a commendable piece of imperial history, tracking Australians to three key nodes of the British Empire. This book serves as a great example of a transnational study of Britain and the world. ... It is a welcome addition for any
scholar or student of the empire, Australia, or the natureof the press in our interpretation and understanding of imperial history." (Jacob Ivey, Britain and the World, Vol. 14 (1), 2021)
"Hutchinson's combination of poststructuralist complexity and broad scope makes for fast-paced, pleasurable reading, ... this ambitious, rich, and altogether fascinating book should prove a springboard for a succession of further studies." (Kate Campbell, Victorian Studies, Vol.62 (4), 2020)
"Hutchinson's detailed content analysis of the Australian and British press, through well-chosen case studies, bears fruitful results. He successfully shows the interplay between rational calculation and affective belonging in the construction of multivalent identities during a formative period in the making of Australia. ... Hutchinson's book will be especially valuable for those interested in journalism history, the making of the 'British world,' or constructions of whiteness." (Mark Hampton, American Historical Review, Vol. 125 (2), April, 2020)
"Sam Hutchinson's Settlers, War, and Empire in the Press defies the 'retroactive muting of Australian military history prior to 1915' ... by using colonial troops' involvement in overseas conflicts to conduct a nuanced and sophisticated examination of the settler colonial psyche. ... His sensitive reading and articulate prose afford rich insights into the ways that newspaper rhetoric served the shifting forms of nineteenth century settler colonialism." (Carolyn Holbrook, Limina, Vol. 24 (2), 2019)
"Apart from the scrupulous analysis and convincing arguments, an evident advantage of this book lies in its deep contextualisation. Written in a literary fashion, relevant historical backgrounds are clearly described, which makes the book also accessible to readers with limited knowledge of colonialism and Australian history. This is a well-researched and thoughtfully argued book, deserving of a wide readership." (Yi Guo, Media History, Vol. 25 (3), 2019)
"Hutchinson always plucks the right quote from a report, leader or letter to an editor, teases its meanings out at just the right length, and comments insightfully on them. ... Hutchinson does more than simply point to yet another reason for colonial Australians forming and joining military expeditions. He unites the normally segregated histories of Australian frontier conflict and Australian expeditionary wars ... ." (Craig Wilcox, Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society, Vol. 104, 2019)
"Hutchinson's new book, as part of an important series on the subject, necessarily involves a sustained literature review, while drawing together earlier concepts and new insights. ... a thorough and penetrating study." (Denis Cryle, Australian Journal of Politics and History, March 12, 2019)
"Settlers, War, and Empire in the Press is a true heir of the New Imperial History, and builds on the work of Simon Potter, Alan Lester and Tony Ballantyne. ... I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone with an interestin the history of British settler colonialism, print culture, nineteenth-century Australia and frontier violence with Indigenous peoples." (Kenton Storey, Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History, Vol. 20 (1), Spring, 2019)
"A focused reading of Victorian newspapers to consider the uncertain position of British settlers on the periphery of empire. ... reads Australian engagement in the press as a continual series of shifting negotiations, with settlers always navigating between presenting themselves as servants of empire and independent agents in the imperial project." (Jennifer Fuller, Victorian Periodicals Review, Vol. 51 (4), Winter, 2018)
"What is particularly valuable in Hutchinson's analysis is its explanation of the press as a vehicle for the expression of collective emotion. ... Hutchinson is able to enrich the explanatory power of Patrick Wolfe's description of settler colonialism ... . Taken together Hutchinson's conception of these events within public discourse outline the unsettling contours of the emotional needs that the Australian colonies sought to satisfy through their involvement ... ." (Mick Warren, Postcolonial Studies, November, 15, 2018)
"Settlers, War, and Empire in the Press is a valuable addition to the Cambridge Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies Series and is, in a myriad of ways, an important contribution to Australian colonial history. Through a careful analysis of Australian colonial reporting of imperial conflicts, Hutchinson has shed light on the ways newspapers both shaped and reflected the sentiment and value of their readers over time." (Nathan Wise, Journal of Australian Colonial History, Vol. 20, 2018)
