Absolute Power: The Helen Clark Years

by Ian Wishart

Helen Clark has become one of the most powerful women in the world, rising as head of the UN Development Program to the number-three ranked position in that organisation, and a serious candidate as the replacement for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. So what drives Helen Clark? In this #1 bestselling unauthorised biography, investigative journalist and author Ian Wishart unearths the real Clark, the one who turned around her own nation New Zealand but always had her gaze fixed on a higher goal. Does she have a lust for absolute power? What's her vision for the planet? These questions and more are answered in Absolute Power.

Genres: Politics

336 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 27, 2008

About the author

Ian Wishart is a multi-award winning investigative journalist and bestselling author of more than 20 books, who's now in his fourth decade in the news business. His writing style has often been compared to John Grisham by reviewers.

He's been a radio News Director, a Chief of Staff for TV3 News and a magazine editor. His work has featured in the Times of London, Daily Mail, New Zealand Herald and America's massive Coast to Coast radio programme - to name a few. His books Totalitaria, Air Con and Vitamin D became Amazon bestsellers worldwide.

While writing his first book, The Paradise Conspiracy, Wishart's TVNZ office was discovered to have been bugged, his home was broken into, the manuscript for the book stolen, and an attempt was made on his life. Needless to say, he survived to write the story.

The first four chapters of The Paradise Conspiracy inspired movie director Geoff Murphy ("Young Guns II", "Under Siege 2") to produce the movie "Spooked" starring Cliff Curtis ("Runaway Jury", "Live Free or Die Hard") in a loose portrayal of Wishart's role as an investigative journalist.

He's been shot at, tear-gassed and stalked, but Wishart says his motivation remains telling the stories that "need to be told", whether its new leads on cold case murders, or government espionage.

As well as writing books, Wishart also divides his time between operating the http://www.investigatedaily.com and http://www.ianwishartpublishing.com websites - the latter catering to his writing and publishing clients.

Reviews

[Adrian Jenkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very interesting analysis of all the goings on during Helen Clark's time as prime minister. Quite a bit of the book isn't directly about Helen Clark but her ministers. The author, Ian Wishart, is biased. He is a staunch National party supporter and very conservative. He strongly dislikes Helen Clark. I'm now planning to read the recently published official biography by Denis Welch to get another side of the story.