When Scott Morrison ascended to the prime ministership in 2018 he was one of the least-well known of the 29 men and women who had held the nation’s top job. While now entrenched and popular, he remains somewhat of an enigma. Australians knew much more about Morrison’s two Liberal predecessors than they do about him.
That may be about to change with the first biography of Morrison by Annika Smethurst, The Accidental PM (Hachette, July), which answers: “So who the bloody hell is Scott Morrison?”
Peter van Onselen and Wayne Errington will examine his prime ministership in How Good is Scott Morrison? (Hachette, March). And former Labor staffer Sean Kelly will give his verdict in “a political portrait” (Black Inc, October).
The ninth annual survey of Australia’s leading publishers on their politics-themed titles for the next year reveals ex-prime ministers and opposition leaders will also receive the book treatment.
Gideon Haigh writes about HV “Doc” Evatt with a focus on his time as a barrister, state MP and judge, in The Brilliant Boy (Simon & Schuster, July). John Curtin’s great-grandson, Toby Davidson, illuminates the former PM’s love for poetry in Good for the Soul (UWA Publishing). Stephen Chavura and Greg Melleuish explain Robert Menzies’ political thinking in The Forgotten Menzies (MUP, May).
Former Labor minister Kate Ellis explores what it is like to be a woman in politics and interviews other female politicians in Sex, Lies & Question Time (Hardie Grant, April.) Former Liberal MP turned independent Julia Banks provides a guide for women who aspire to lead and reveals the barriers she encountered in Power Play (Hardie Grant, August). Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi combines memoir with manifesto in a book due in July (Allen & Unwin).
Chris Bowen asks whether authentic politicians are a thing of the past in On Charlatans (Hachette, March). Former Greens senator Scott Ludlam’s delayed memoir is due next year (Black Inc). The National Interest series by Monash University Publishing will see a range of authors tackle various subjects: Don Russell on Leadership, Martin Parkinson on A Decade of Drift, Scott Ryan on Challenging Politics and Kevin Rudd on The Case for Courage.
David Kemp’s brilliant multi-volume history of Australian liberalism brings the story up to 1966 in A Liberal State (MUP, February). Megan Davis and George Williams tell us Everything You Need to Know about the Uluru Statement from the Heart (NewSouth, June). Labor MP Terri Butler is writing a monograph on the life of Hawke-era minister Susan Ryan (Connor Court, February).
Stuart Macintyre’s The Party (Allen & Unwin) scrutinises the Communist Party during the Cold War. Philip Ayres’ The Washington Diaries of Owen Dixon takes readers into the heart of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s government (The Federation Press, January). How we transformed from a penal colony to a democracy is the subject of Adam Wakeling’s A House of Commons for a Den of Thieves (Australian Scholarly Publishing).
Sophie Cousins analyses how COVID-19 has changed us and the world, and what opportunities it brings in Renewal (Text, February). Hugh Mackay looks at the past year of upheaval in The Loving Country (Allen & Unwin, May). Duncan McNab examines the Ruby Princess debacle (Pan Macmillan, March). How we recover from the pandemic is the subject of Ross Garnaut’s Reset (Black Inc, February).
Bill Birtles is writing a memoir of his time as a journalist in China (Allen & Unwin, June). Two dozen foreign correspondents provide their reflections in The Beijing Bureau, edited by Trevor Watson and Melissa Roberts (Hardie Grant, May). Zoe Daniel and Roscoe Whalan look at Donald Trump’s presidency in Trumpland (HarperCollins, February). And Emma Alberici combines memoir with media analysis in Rewrite the Story (Hardie Grant, September).
Malcolm Turnbull’s A Bigger Picture (Hardie Grant) is the Australian politics book of the year. Short on self-reflection and long on revenge, it was nevertheless compelling. With an impressive 55,280 copies sold, it is still well below John Howard’s Lazarus Rising (HarperCollins) with 105,400 and Julia Gillard’s My Story (Penguin) with 76,740. Still, Turnbull was vastly better read than Rudd’s Not for the Faint-hearted (8260) and The PM Years (5750), from Pan Macmillan.
Samantha Maiden’s deconstruction of Labor’s election failure, Party Animals (Viking), is highly recommended. Nick Dyrenfurth and Misha Zelinsky’s The Write Stuff (Connor Court) is required reading for a demoralised Labor. Barry Jones’ What Is To Be Done (Scribe) is filled with wisdom. It was good to see two new prime ministerial biographies this year: Bridget McKenzies’s John McEwen (Connor Court) and Stephen Wilks’ Now is the Psychological Moment about Earle Page (ANU Press).
I read a lot of US politics this year. I especially enjoyed Barack Obama’s A Promised Land (Penguin), Bob Woodward’s Rage (Simon & Schuster), Evan Osnos’ Joe Biden (Bloomsbury), Jon Dickerson’s The Hardest Job in the World (Random House), Kate Anderson Brower’s Team of Five (Harper) and Craig Fehrman’s Author in Chief (Simon & Schuster). I am now reading Peter Baker and Susan Glasser’s life of James Baker in The Man Who Ran Washington (Doubleday).
Over summer, I am looking forward to reading Erik Larson’s The Splendid and the Vile (William Collins), Fredrik Logevall’s JFK (Random House) and David Reynolds’ Abe (Penguin). A special edition of Mario Puzo’s The Godfather (The Folio Society) is one to cherish. Churchill’s A History of the English-Speaking Peoples (Cassell) is on my list for 2021.
As always, happy reading.
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