'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.
'In a rather storied coincidence two biographies of Liberal Prime Ministers have appeared in the Liberal Party of Australia’s seventy-fifth year. The first, on the lionised founder of the party, Sir Robert Menzies. The other is about one of the party’s least glorious – and perhaps least understood – sons, Sir William McMahon.' (Introduction)
'Paul Keating’s speechwriter, Don Watson, once remarked that his boss couldn’t resist needling his opponents on the legacy of Robert Menzies. Keating never wavered, Watson said, from the view that Menzies’ “only use was the same as a bit of rag with a cat fur on it thrown to a pack of dogs”.' (Introduction)
'There have been at least half a dozen previous biographies of Robert Menzies, but Troy Bramston’s new life of Australia’s longest-serving prime minister is arguably the most attractive combination of research and readability.' (Introduction)
'There have been at least half a dozen previous biographies of Robert Menzies, but Troy Bramston’s new life of Australia’s longest-serving prime minister is arguably the most attractive combination of research and readability.' (Introduction)
'Paul Keating’s speechwriter, Don Watson, once remarked that his boss couldn’t resist needling his opponents on the legacy of Robert Menzies. Keating never wavered, Watson said, from the view that Menzies’ “only use was the same as a bit of rag with a cat fur on it thrown to a pack of dogs”.' (Introduction)
'In a rather storied coincidence two biographies of Liberal Prime Ministers have appeared in the Liberal Party of Australia’s seventy-fifth year. The first, on the lionised founder of the party, Sir Robert Menzies. The other is about one of the party’s least glorious – and perhaps least understood – sons, Sir William McMahon.' (Introduction)
