James Boyce is an Australian author and historian based in

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

. He has written four major books on Australian history and the history of

Western thought Western philosophy encompasses the philosophical thought and work of the Western world. Historically, the term refers to the philosophical thinking of Western culture, beginning with the ancient Greek philosophy of the pre-Socratics. The word ...

Early life and education

Boyce earned a PhD from the

University of Tasmania The University of Tasmania (UTAS) is a public research university, primarily located in Tasmania, Australia. Founded in 1890, it is Australia's fourth oldest university. Christ College, one of the university's residential colleges, first prop ...

in Geography and Environmental Studies.

Career

Boyce is an honorary research associate at the University of Tasmania.

Gambling industry

Following his writing of ''Losing Streak'', Boyce became closely related to efforts to control the

poker machine A slot machine (American English), fruit machine (British English) or poker machine (Australian English and New Zealand English) is a gambling machine that creates a game of chance for its customers. Slot machines are also known pejoratively a ...

industry in Tasmania and in Australia. This work built on his previous career in social work and social policy research. He has been called before parliamentary committees to give evidence about the harms of the industry as well as the history, as well as working with members of parliament with similar goals. He has also written extensively in the Australian press on the topic, specifically about the deals that allowed Federal Group to gain a monopoly on Tasmania's two casinos and all the state's poker machines. He continued the fight against the Farrel family and their intervention into Tasmanian politics to ensure the continuation of their monopolies, and he was particularly scathing about their conduct during the

2018 Tasmanian state election The 2018 Tasmanian state election was held on 3 March 2018 to elect all 25 members of the Tasmanian House of Assembly. The four-year incumbent Liberal government, led by Premier Will Hodgman, won a second consecutive term. It defeated the Labo ...

, where Boyce claimed that "we are watching an election being bought before our eyes" due to the massive advertising blitz that the gambling industry poured into the campaign after the Labor Party promised to phase out all poker machines.

Accolades

He has won several awards for his books, including

The Age Book of the Year ''The Age'' Book of the Year Awards were annual literary awards presented by Melbourne's ''The Age'' newspaper. The awards were first presented in 1974. After 1998, they were presented as part of the Melbourne Writers Festival. Initially, two awa ...

, the Tasmania Book Prize twice, and the

Colin Roderick Award The Colin Roderick Award is presented annually by the Foundation for Australian Literary Studies at Queensland's James Cook University for "the best book published in Australia which deals with any aspect of Australian life". It was first presente ...

. His books have been shortlisted for various other awards, including the Prime Minister's Literary Award, and the Victorian,

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

and

Western Australian Premier's Book Awards The Western Australian Premier's Book Awards is an annual book award provided by the Government of Western Australia, and managed by the State Library of Western Australia. History and format Annual literary awards were inaugurated by the West ...

Selected works

*''Imperial Mud: The Fight for the Fens''. Icon Books. 2020 *''Losing Streak: How Tasmania was gamed by the gambling industry''. Black Inc. Redback. 2017. *''Born Bad: Original Sin and the Making of the Western World''. Black Inc 2015, Counterpoint. 2016. *''1835: The Founding of Melbourne & the Conquest of Australia.'' Black Inc. 2011. *''Van Dieman’s Land.'' Black Inc. 2008.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyce, James Anti-gambling advocates Australian writers Living people Year of birth missing (living people)