AustLit

'The definitive full-life biography of Australia's 23rd prime minister; the only one that Hawke cooperated with after exiting the prime ministership.

'This unprecedented biography of Hawke includes an exclusive series of interviews with him - the last that he gave - as well as unfiltered access to his extensive trove of personal papers. It features new interviews with more than 100 people who knew and worked with Hawke, including his family and friends; political and union colleagues, and rivals; advisers and public servants; and journalists; along with international contemporaries of Hawke such as George H.W. Bush, John Major, Brian Mulroney, James Baker and George Shultz.

'It also brings together an extraordinary array of never-before-seen archival documents- family diaries, notes, letters and scrapbooks; school and university reports; cabinet, departmental and vice-regal papers; party strategy documents, polling and caucus minutes; and secret correspondence and meeting records between Hawke and other Cold War leaders.

'Troy Bramston, an award-winning and best-selling author, tells the remarkable story of Hawke's upbringing and education, the people and events that shaped him, his rise through the union movement, his complex personality and personal life marked by womanising and the demon drink, his nine-year government from 1983 to 1991, plus his post-prime ministerial life and legacy.

'This book is about the real Hawke, chronicling the stunning triumphs and shocking failures, a life riddled with huge flaws and great virtues marked by redemption and reinvention, which changed Australia and shaped the world. Revelatory and compelling, it will shock and surprise those who think they know the story of the Australia's most popular prime minister.'  (Publication summary)

'In a life spanning journalism, the law, business and politics, Malcolm Turnbull has never been known for half measures or to pull his punches. He says what he thinks and does what he wants, and ­always has.'  (Introduction)

'A revelatory biography of Australia’s longest-serving prime minister.

'Robert Menzies claimed the prime ministership in 1939 and led the nation during the early years of the war, but resigned two years later when he lost the confidence of his party. His political career seemed over, and yet he staged one of the great comebacks to forge a new political party, devise a new governing philosophy, and craft a winning electoral approach that was to make him Australia’s longest-serving prime minister.

'The lessons Menzies learned — and the way he applied them — made him a model that every Liberal leader since has looked to for inspiration. But debate over Menzies’ life and legacy has never settled.

'Who was Robert Menzies, what did he stand for, what did he achieve? Troy Bramston has not only researched the official record and published accounts, but has also interviewed members of Menzies’ family, and his former advisers and ministers. He has also been given exclusive access to family letters, as well as to a series of interviews that Menzies gave that have never been revealed before. They are a major historical find, in which Menzies talks about his life, reflects on political events and personalities, offers political lessons, and candidly assesses his successors.

'Robert Menzies is the first biography in 20 years of the Liberal icon — and it contains important contemporary lessons for those who want to understand, and master, the art and science of politics.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Six authors nominated for the National Biography awards reveal what most surprised them about their subjects.' (Publication abstract)

'In the opening pages of this enjoyable book we are presented with the octogenarian former prime minister Bob Hawke excusing himself from his inquisitor and shuffling over to the edge of his terrace peering over Sydney Harbour to “have a leak”.' (Introduction)

'Prime ministers are better off co-operating with their biographers. Troy Bramston , who has experienced the ‘Keating treatment’, delves into the genre.' (Introduction)

'A few weeks ago I climbed a creaking staircase and walked along the corridor­ to the old banquet hall at the majestic 19th-century Shamrock Hotel in Bendigo, outside Melbourne. Today, it is a popular spot for wedding­ receptions. But it was here in 1898 that Alfred Deakin delivered a mesmerising speech that galvanised national politics.' (Introduction)

'In 2009 an embattled Nathan Rees warned that, should he not be NSW premier by the end of that day, his successor would be nothing but “a puppet of Eddie Obeid and Joe Tripodi”. This marked a decisive moment in the disintegration and degeneration of NSW Labor.' (Introduction)

'Paul Keating: The Big-picture Leader is the definitive biography of Australia’s 24th prime minister, and the first that Keating has co-operated with in more than two decades.

'Drawing on around 15 hours of new interviews with Keating, coupled with access to his extensive personal files, this book tells the story of a political warrior’s rise to power, from the outer suburbs of Sydney through Young Labor and into parliament at just 25 years of age, serving as a minister in the last days of the Whitlam government; his path-breaking term as treasurer in the 1980s; his four-year prime ministership from 1991 to 1996; and his passions and interests since.

'Bramston has interviewed more than 100 people who know and worked with Keating, including his family, parliamentary colleagues, advisers, party officials, union leaders, public servants, and journalists. This includes interviews with Gough Whitlam, Malcolm Fraser, Bob Hawke, John Howard, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Tony Abbott, Doug Anthony, Bill Hayden, Andrew Peacock, Ian Sinclair, John Hewson, Alexander Downer, Peter Costello, Kim Beazley, Simon Crean, Cheryl Kernot, and Bob Carr.

'Bramston has secured access to Labor archives, and he also documents key debates in once-secret cabinet papers, reveals caucus minutes for the first time, draws on the unpublished diaries of Neal Blewett and Bob Carr, discloses meeting records from the archives of US presidents George H W Bush and Bill Clinton, talks to former British prime minister Tony Blair, and shares his new discoveries from the personal files of Whitlam, Hayden, Hawke, and Howard.

'Paul Keating saw political leadership as the combination of courage and imagination, a belief that powered his public career and helps explain his extraordinary triumphs and crushing lows. Keating blazed a trail of reform with a vision for Australia’s future that still attracts ardent admirers and the staunchest critics. This book chronicles, analyses, and interprets Keating’s life, and draws lessons for a Labor Party and a country still reluctant to fully embrace his legacy. ' (Publication summary)