'Joseph Benedict Chifley was one of the most significant Australian politicians of the twentieth century. Born into a family of limited means near Bathurst in 1885, Chifley was employed from 1902 in the New South Wales Government Railways and became actively involved in the union movement and the Australian Labor Party (ALP).' (Introduction)
'My family home was not bookish, but there was a ten volume set of the Australian Encyclopaedia, shelved alongside the novels of Neville Shute and Arthur Upfield. First published in 1958 by Angus and Robertson, ours was the 1963 edition from the Grolier Society, purchased in response to that US‐based company's practice of direct‐to‐the‐home appeals to parents to take their children's education seriously. I was regularly advised to “look it up”. The Encyclopaedia was a distinctive reference text, exclusively, almost defiantly Australian, with a marked concentration on people, place, native fauna and flora. “Special articles” included 75, 000 words (the longest entry) on “Australia's aborigines”, “written by 12 authorities from various States, and illustrated with 14 pages of photographs and 13 maps”. Its glossy paper squeaked between your fingers: 400 “authorities” gave it gravitas, among them government departments, other institutions and individuals — from the president of a Hard Court Lawn Tennis Association to a retired naval commander (writing on “Australiana”) to a professor of nuclear physics. The Encyclopaedia marked a transition from a self‐improving nationalism to a more objectified learning. Its editor‐in‐chief, “Alec H. Chisholm”, insisted that “human interest” and “Austral‐oddities” must leaven the strict adherence to “facts” demanded by the venture. In this subtle biography of Chisholm, Russell McGregor alerts us to the many ways in which his subject marked several such transitions, and tensions, in his career, persona and personality.' (Introduction)
'William McMahon has not quite been the white whale of Australian political biography. Nevertheless, until this fine book by Patrick Mullins, he was virtually alone among Australian prime ministers in not having attracted a serious study. One problem has been lack of access to McMahon's papers, held at the National Library of Australia. But this book is so rich in detail, so penetrating in its insights, and so impressive in its research, that it is hard to imagine anyone with such access bettering Mullins.' (Introduction)
'In 1997 Dennis Altman published an autobiography, Defying Gravity: A Political Life, and many of his books, such as The End of the Homosexual? in 2013, are part memoir. This is his second attempt at dedicated autobiographical writing, based on diary entries written between 2016 and 2019. The book revolves around contemporary events but skips back and forth over Altman's long involvement and unrequited love affair with the US, and since the 1970s his presence within gay and LGBTI liberation and then HIV‐AIDS activism. Rather improbably, it works and tells us about his political philosophy, his life and loves, his activism, and the people he has met during a busy life. One of Australia's leading intellectuals, he has trod the world stage for close to half a century. Altman is good at assessing individuals, hilariously funny on occasions, and has had more meals with famous people, attended more conferences and given more interviews than most individuals could ever dream about.' (Introduction)
'Marilyn Lake — Tasmanian high achiever, academic, inspired and inspiring historian, thinker, collaborator, mentor, teacher, activist, role‐model, provocateur, friend, ally and shape shifter — is at the centre of this wonderfully rich and appropriately thoughtful collection of essays in her honour. From beginning to end one is left with the sense of a leading Australian historian whose contributions to Australian life and thought, and to Australian history, have been profound, an “astonishing record of achievement” in the words of Ann McGrath.' (Introduction)
