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Bob Hawke
To mark Bob Hawke’s extraordinary life and legacy, this master work brings together the story of the man in full in a definitive hardback commemorative biography. Bob Hawke began life as a good Christian boy from a teetotal family, became a wild, drinking, womanising student, a Rhodes Scholar, a champion of workers, a folk hero recognised throughout the country, a dynamic politician who was elected four times as Australia’s Prime Minister - and transformed his country. He was our longest serving Labor Prime Minister and considered by many our greatest. By the early 1980s Australia was on the road to becoming ‘the poor white trash of Asia’. Hawke as prime minister, with Paul Keating as treasurer, changed all that. Australia became a forward-looking and humane country whose voice commanded respect on the international stage. Hawke was an environmentalist before it was fashionable, he loathed racism, helped end apartheid in South Africa, sent ministers to end the war in Cambodia, foresaw that China would become a great world power and established the first Chinese investment in an iron ore mine in Australia. His journey from the manse of a small South Australian country town to the palaces of Europe, Asia and the United States is the odyssey of a leader it is hard to imagine we will ever see the like of again - a man of towering passions and commitment to causes, and an unshakeable love of humanity.
1008 pages, Hardcover
Published December 1, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 27, 2021
Almost all the detail you’d ever need, making it a must read for any Bob enthusiast. With that, it labours even the most dull periods of his story, making it a tough read in parts for any passing enthusiast.
Blanche’s bias is at times distracting, but mostly tolerable.
I’m glad I finished it, but certainly won’t return for a second lap around.
Blanche’s bias is at times distracting, but mostly tolerable.
I’m glad I finished it, but certainly won’t return for a second lap around.
August 24, 2020
Up until recent times, had I been presented with the prospect of reading a book on a prime minister and the political arena, the book would undoubtedly have remained on the shelf. My passion for self-education and self-improvement has changed that.
This book is a compilation of two volumes which had previously been published separately. ‘Hawke: The Early Years’ published in 1982; and ‘Hawke: The Prime Minister’ published in 2010.
Blanche d’Alpuget, an Australian writer, biographer, and the second wife of Bob Hawke, has produced a lucid and comprehensive account of his life, not an easy task, considering the many experiences and achievements in Hawke’s trajectory. I was grateful for the Notes section of the book which gave more information on some of the references.
A wealth of information was collected from not only the subject himself, but also from many people who have known him, friends, colleagues, enemies and relations.
Bob Hawke was a sympathetic listener, one of the most useful skills for a politician and a negotiator. His confidence and courage were without limit. He was a natural leader. He was an extraordinarily strong debater, a man who “went for the jugular”. He had charisma, one of his strongest attributes as a leader and he was popular, both in Australia and abroad. He had the ability to relate at all levels of society.
“Hawke’s principles which he had held to throughout his life were tolerance for other beliefs and abhorrence for all forms of racism”.
Bob Hawke is well-remembered for his untiring efforts and results he achieved as the wages advocate while working for the ACTU (Australian Council of Trade Unions), later appointed president.
On Australia Day in 1979 he was made a Companion of Australia .
In 1983 Hawke is awarded ‘Australian of the Year’, an award honouring our most exceptional Australians.
On 5 March 1983, having campaigned on a slogan– “Bob Hawke, Bringing Australia Together’ – Robert Hawke became Australia’s 23rd prime minister. With only two years in parliament and three weeks as leader of the Opposition, his rise to power is the most spectacular in the history of Australian politics. Bob Hawke’s leadership would bring Australia the greatest standing in the world it had ever experienced. Through his two decades in the trade union movement and his perpetual mixing with all classes of Australians he had an encyclopaedic knowledge of how the nation worked.
I had not expected to be reading about the Gulf War, which I found to be very interesting and enlightening, giving me a perspective from the Israelis on the one side, and the Palestinians on the other. Initially though, Hawke was all for the Israelis - the institutions and problems of the state of Israel were to seize upon the core of Hawke’s being. Later Hawke was sympathetic to the side of the Palestinians also.
It was of great interest to me to learn of numerous changes Bob Hawke was instrumental in and brought about nationally and internationally. Just a few are: public awareness, especially in France, of the dangers of atmospheric nuclear testing; The release of 80,000 Jews (refuseniks) from the USSR between 1971 and 1973; Hawke was a champion of women’s rights, espousing equal pay for women and introducing the Sex Discrimination Act of 1984, a landmark achievement; Every Australian carries a tribute to Bob Hawke in their wallet – their Medicare card, re-introduced in 1983 and set in concrete, so that it could not be taken away; The enormous trade with China in raw materials, founded on iron for steel, and, increasingly, black coal; Promotion of free trade and sustainable development in the Pacific Rim economies; The fight against apartheid in South Africa, Hawke played a huge part in the release of Nelson Mandela in 1990.
Companion of Australia (AC) - awarded for eminent achievement and merit of the highest degree in service to Australia or humanity at large.
Robert James Lee Hawke 1929 - 2019 aged 89
“The people’s good is the highest law.” - Cicero
This book is a compilation of two volumes which had previously been published separately. ‘Hawke: The Early Years’ published in 1982; and ‘Hawke: The Prime Minister’ published in 2010.
Blanche d’Alpuget, an Australian writer, biographer, and the second wife of Bob Hawke, has produced a lucid and comprehensive account of his life, not an easy task, considering the many experiences and achievements in Hawke’s trajectory. I was grateful for the Notes section of the book which gave more information on some of the references.
A wealth of information was collected from not only the subject himself, but also from many people who have known him, friends, colleagues, enemies and relations.
Bob Hawke was a sympathetic listener, one of the most useful skills for a politician and a negotiator. His confidence and courage were without limit. He was a natural leader. He was an extraordinarily strong debater, a man who “went for the jugular”. He had charisma, one of his strongest attributes as a leader and he was popular, both in Australia and abroad. He had the ability to relate at all levels of society.
“Hawke’s principles which he had held to throughout his life were tolerance for other beliefs and abhorrence for all forms of racism”.
Bob Hawke is well-remembered for his untiring efforts and results he achieved as the wages advocate while working for the ACTU (Australian Council of Trade Unions), later appointed president.
On Australia Day in 1979 he was made a Companion of Australia .
In 1983 Hawke is awarded ‘Australian of the Year’, an award honouring our most exceptional Australians.
On 5 March 1983, having campaigned on a slogan– “Bob Hawke, Bringing Australia Together’ – Robert Hawke became Australia’s 23rd prime minister. With only two years in parliament and three weeks as leader of the Opposition, his rise to power is the most spectacular in the history of Australian politics. Bob Hawke’s leadership would bring Australia the greatest standing in the world it had ever experienced. Through his two decades in the trade union movement and his perpetual mixing with all classes of Australians he had an encyclopaedic knowledge of how the nation worked.
I had not expected to be reading about the Gulf War, which I found to be very interesting and enlightening, giving me a perspective from the Israelis on the one side, and the Palestinians on the other. Initially though, Hawke was all for the Israelis - the institutions and problems of the state of Israel were to seize upon the core of Hawke’s being. Later Hawke was sympathetic to the side of the Palestinians also.
It was of great interest to me to learn of numerous changes Bob Hawke was instrumental in and brought about nationally and internationally. Just a few are: public awareness, especially in France, of the dangers of atmospheric nuclear testing; The release of 80,000 Jews (refuseniks) from the USSR between 1971 and 1973; Hawke was a champion of women’s rights, espousing equal pay for women and introducing the Sex Discrimination Act of 1984, a landmark achievement; Every Australian carries a tribute to Bob Hawke in their wallet – their Medicare card, re-introduced in 1983 and set in concrete, so that it could not be taken away; The enormous trade with China in raw materials, founded on iron for steel, and, increasingly, black coal; Promotion of free trade and sustainable development in the Pacific Rim economies; The fight against apartheid in South Africa, Hawke played a huge part in the release of Nelson Mandela in 1990.
Companion of Australia (AC) - awarded for eminent achievement and merit of the highest degree in service to Australia or humanity at large.
Robert James Lee Hawke 1929 - 2019 aged 89
“The people’s good is the highest law.” - Cicero
February 29, 2020
As definitive as it is detailed, as readable as it is long, but while this is probably the best book about Bob currently on the market I strongly feel that the proverbial Great Hawkey Biography has yet to be written. Still, I'd recommend it to those who are interested, but maybe read the Paul Kelly books (specifically The Hawke Ascendancy and The End Of Certainty) if you're interested more in the era than in a strict biography. As an aside: I was pleasantly surprised that this book was not quite as anti-Keating as I expected, although it is still pretty anti-Keating.
July 13, 2021
A huge book, I read the hardcover version over many nights. To me this was more than a biography of Bob Hawke, it was a fantastic account of Australian history during the 20th century.
October 26, 2022
Very good about his period as president of the ACTU, tends to become hagiographic near the end but still well written.
January 4, 2024
Excellent book by one who knew him well.Thorough psychological and factual book about his early years and rise to power.Well worth a read and well written.
January 28, 2022
The first book a bit of an airbrushed, romantic, one dimensional take on Hawke's pre-pm years. You don't really get much sense of his character, especially in the ACTU years which seemed so eventful.
The second book provides a little more insight, although it's mostly a timeline with interviews added in. I was hoping for more character insight here too. It's a shame.
The second book provides a little more insight, although it's mostly a timeline with interviews added in. I was hoping for more character insight here too. It's a shame.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews