'After Paul Hasluck’s death in 1993 his son Nicholas, himself a well-known writer, read the extraordinary manuscript on which The Chance of Politics is based. Drawn from Hasluck’s private notebooks, it provides intimate portraits of people he knew in Canberra: among them Evatt, Casey, Barwick, Calwell, McEwen, McMahon, Whitlam and Fraser. There is also an enthralling account of events after the death of Harold Holt when John Gorton defeated Hasluck in a ballot to decide the new prime minister.
'Vivid, honest and wise, The Chance of Politics is more than a brilliant work of biography or an informal history of a fascinating era. In describing the struggles for power, the clashes of will and the trade-offs between leadership and expedience, Paul Hasluck takes us to the heart of politics and political character.' (Publication summary)
'Are the intriguing revelations from the notebooks of Paul Hasluck part of a larger trove, asks Paul Rodan'
'Sir Paul Hasluck missed out on being Australian Prime Minister by a handful of party-room votes in 1968. Despite his elevation to the Governor-Generalship the next year, Hasluck never quite forgave his colleagues for the slight. He was the wrong man to have offended.' (Introduction)
'Sir Paul Hasluck missed out on being Australian Prime Minister by a handful of party-room votes in 1968. Despite his elevation to the Governor-Generalship the next year, Hasluck never quite forgave his colleagues for the slight. He was the wrong man to have offended.' (Introduction)
'Are the intriguing revelations from the notebooks of Paul Hasluck part of a larger trove, asks Paul Rodan'
