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BiographyHistory
Most Referenced Works
Awards for Works
-
y
Speechless : A Year in My Father's Business
Carlton
:
Melbourne University Publishing
,
2012
Z1887796
2012
single work
autobiography
'James Button spent a year writing speeches for Kevin Rudd. Before that, he reported on politics as a highly regarded journalist for Fairfax. But James also has politics in the blood: his father was the diminutive but larger-than-life Senator John Button, who was a minister in the Hawke and Keating governments. Growing up, James watched a roll-call of political luminaries debating the fate of the Labor Party. He saw great victories and defeats at close hand. He believes both his father and his family paid a heavy price for politics. Speechless is James' highly personal account of a year working in Canberra, seen from both the inside and the outside. It's told through his experience of Kevin Rudd's failure to tell his story, and how this helped destroy his prime ministership. It also reflects on how far the Labor Party has moved from the idealism and pragmatism of his father's generation. He ends on a note of hope for the Party's revival.' (Publisher's website)
- 2015 shortlisted Melbourne Prize — Melbourne Prize for Literature
- 2013 longlisted Walkley Award
- 2013 shortlisted National Biography Award
- 2013 shortlisted Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) — Australian General Non-Fiction Book of the Year
Last amended 19 Sep 2012 16:08:18
