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'In 1941, RG Menzies delivered to war-time Australia what was to be his richest, most creative speech, and one of his most influential. 'The Forgotten People' was a direct address to the Australian middle class, the "people" who would return him to power in 1949 and keep him there until his retirement in 1966.
'Who were these "forgotten people"? The middle class pitting their values of hard work and independence against the collectivist ethos of labour? Women, shunning the class-based politics of men? The parents of Menzies' childhood in the small country town of Jeparit? Australians struggling to maintain a derivative culture at the edges of the British Empire? Or all of them, in a richly over-determined image that takes us to the heart of Menzies' mid-life political transformation?
'Judith Brett deftly traces the links between the private and public meanings of Menzies' political language to produce compelling insights into the man and the culture he represented.' (Publisher's blurb)
Notes
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Brett's biography of Menzies, while focussing on his political career, includes details of Menzies' literary influences and the poetry he wrote as a young man. See particularly 'Literary Aspirations', pp.152-158 (2nd. ed.).
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Menzies and Howard on Themselves : Liberal Memoir, Memory and Myth Making
2018
single work
criticism
— Appears in: History Australia , vol. 15 no. 1 2018; (p. 7-22)'This article compares the memoirs of Sir Robert Menzies and John Howard, as well as Howard’s book on Menzies, examining what these works by the two most successful Liberal prime ministers indicate about the evolution of the Liberal Party’s liberalism. Howard’s memoirs are far more ‘political’, candid and ideologically engaged than those of Menzies. Howard acknowledges that politics is about political power and winning it, while Menzies was more concerned with the political leader as statesman. Howard’s works can be viewed as a continuation of the ‘history wars’. He wishes to create a Liberal tradition to match that of the Labor Party.' (Publication abstract)
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Menzies Worth Another Look
2007
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 4-5 August 2007; (p. 33)
— Review of Robert Menzies' Forgotten People 1992 single work biography -
Primal Scene from Psycho-Biography
1993
single work
review
— Appears in: Arena Magazine , April/May no. 4 1993; (p. 46-49)
— Review of Robert Menzies' Forgotten People 1992 single work biography ; Hawke : An Emotional Life 1991 single work biography
-
Menzies Worth Another Look
2007
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 4-5 August 2007; (p. 33)
— Review of Robert Menzies' Forgotten People 1992 single work biography -
Primal Scene from Psycho-Biography
1993
single work
review
— Appears in: Arena Magazine , April/May no. 4 1993; (p. 46-49)
— Review of Robert Menzies' Forgotten People 1992 single work biography ; Hawke : An Emotional Life 1991 single work biography -
Menzies and Howard on Themselves : Liberal Memoir, Memory and Myth Making
2018
single work
criticism
— Appears in: History Australia , vol. 15 no. 1 2018; (p. 7-22)'This article compares the memoirs of Sir Robert Menzies and John Howard, as well as Howard’s book on Menzies, examining what these works by the two most successful Liberal prime ministers indicate about the evolution of the Liberal Party’s liberalism. Howard’s memoirs are far more ‘political’, candid and ideologically engaged than those of Menzies. Howard acknowledges that politics is about political power and winning it, while Menzies was more concerned with the political leader as statesman. Howard’s works can be viewed as a continuation of the ‘history wars’. He wishes to create a Liberal tradition to match that of the Labor Party.' (Publication abstract)
