'The much-anticipated second volume of former labor prime minister Gough Whitlam's biography.
'In the first volume acclaimed biographer Jenny Hocking illuminated Whitlam's path to power, and here she recreates the excitement of Whitlam's historic win in 1972, the forces that never accepted his ascendency and the tragedy that followed. Drawing on previously unseen archival material, extensive interviews with family and colleagues as well as exclusive interviews with the man himself, this second volume finally exposes the truth about the Whitlam years.' (Publisher's blurb)
Epigraph: My experience in politics is that when nothing is controversial, when everything is beautifully co-ordinated it must be that nothing is changing.
Gough Whitlam
13 February 1987
FAW Barbara Ramsden Award Judges’ Report :
Gough deserves the prize for the sheer volume of information presented in a structure that flows well. Despite the dauntingly dense text and long sentences, the narrative seldom misses a beat, except where it misses a comma. Occasional ambiguities are easier to forgive amongst thousands of facts and quotations.
The authorial voice is consistently that of a scrupulously fair journalist with the wit to insert a fine needlepoint of irony into irrefutable fact. Where hindsight and narrative structure required a reprise of a controversial event, the near-total avoidance of repetition in phrasing and quotations is masterly. Hocking's acknowledgement of Keogh's copy-editing as 'expert' speaks volumes. They are both veterans of their craft with personal experience of the relevant timeframe, and their joint commitment to this monumental project of several years' duration is reminiscent of the glory days of publishing.'
Gough Whitlam : A Moment in History : The Biography. Volume 1
Carlton
:
Melbourne University Publishing
,
2008
Z1541196
2008
single work
biography
