Issue Details: First known date: 2021... 2021 ‘None of You Will Believe It’ : Control, Truth and Myth in the Life of Billy McMahon
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Widely regarded as one of Australia’s worst prime ministers, William—‘Billy’— McMahon laboured in his retirement to produce an autobiography that would put forward the story of his life and laudable career as he saw it. But McMahon’s inability to reconcile that story with the archive of documents he had compiled, and the stories that his colleagues told in their own books, ensured that progress on his autobiography would be incomplete by the time of his death in 1988. This essay traces McMahon’s efforts to assert control of his story, via his archive and work with ghost-writers and publishers on his autobiography, and the effect that this had on the biography of McMahon that I published in 2018.1 I reflect on the two stories that my biography tells—of McMahon’s life, as I have understood it, and McMahon’s attempts to understand and portray his life—and the effect of each on the ontological stability and certainty of the other.' (Introduction)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Australian Journal of Biography and History no. 5 August 2021 22891020 2021 periodical issue

    'This special issue of the Australian Journal of Biography and History focuses on political biography. The 10 peer-reviewed articles and review essays collectively demonstrate that political biography is growing beyond just ‘one damned life after another’, and that there are new and productive paths open for practitioners, readers and critics of this genre. They offer a critical snapshot of the diverse approaches and attitudes to political biography in contemporary Australia.'  (Publication abstract)

    2021
    pg. 147-166
Last amended 2 Sep 2021 10:49:18
147-166 ‘None of You Will Believe It’ : Control, Truth and Myth in the Life of Billy McMahonsmall AustLit logo Australian Journal of Biography and History
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