Uploaded August 2010 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Since its first publication in 1982, Blanche d'Alpuget's Robert J Hawke: A Biography has remained the benchmark by which other political biographies are measured. This second volume, Hawke: The Prime Minister, begins as Bob Hawke wrestles the Labor leadership from Bill Hayden and a few weeks later wins the 1983 federal election, thus achieving his life's goal of becoming Prime Minister of Australia.
Throughout the struggles inside his government, with the opposition and with an electorate that yearned for reform but hated its pain, Hawke maintained his vision for the country, and with four consecutive terms in office he changed Australia irrevocably. Blanche d'Alpuget's new volume is a meticulous portrait of a wily, brilliant politician, uncompromisingly ambitious and at the height of his political powers.
Since its first publication in 1982, Blanche d'Alpuget's Robert J Hawke: A Biography has remained the benchmark by which other political biographies are measured. This second volume, Hawke: The Prime Minister, begins as Bob Hawke wrestles the Labor leadership from Bill Hayden and a few weeks later wins the 1983 federal election, thus achieving his life's goal of becoming Prime Minister of Australia.
Throughout the struggles inside his government, with the opposition and with an electorate that yearned for reform but hated its pain, Hawke maintained his vision for the country, and with four consecutive terms in office he changed Australia irrevocably. Blanche d'Alpuget's new volume is a meticulous portrait of a wily, brilliant politician, uncompromisingly ambitious and at the height of his political powers.
