Hawke: The Definitive Biography

by John Hurst

This biography takes Hawke up to the torrid ACTU congress of 1979, the trade union battle over uranium mining and the prominent focus on Hawke's future and the complicated steps aligning his political ambitions. Hurst, a prominent journalist including as Melbourne editor of The Australian and also Nation Review, provides a telling account of Hawke's emotional and psychological stresses in his childhood and youth plus his 21 years with the ACTU and his driven nature - his public life "lived with a furious intensity".

Genres: Politics

262 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads catalog with this name. This entry is for John ^5 Hurst.

Reviews

[Tony · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is now 38 years old but I really enjoyed looking back at Australian political history. I was amazed at the power of the unions back in the day and how much the Labour Party has changed. The book itself is very detailed, and this detail made reading a little tedious at times as we heard of meeting after meeting. It stops before Hawke became Prime Minister and his achievements prior to that position were at time incredible. The unions had more power in those days and therefore Hawke as leader of the ACTU also wielded enormous power and influence. I ended up drawing the conclusion that I prefer the current political landscape more now then I did in those days.