Performance Politics

A$45 · Offered by Harry Hartog Rare Books

How has Australian political life become so personal, emotional and autobiographical? In Performance Politics, historian and speechwriter Joshua Black provides an eye-opening account of how Australian politicians have become experts at fashioning stories about themselves, their lives, personal ambitions and political entanglements. Delving into memoirs, autobiographies, documentaries, media coverage, personal papers and original interviews, this book reveals how much of our recent political history has been delivered through the prism of the publishing house, the book launch and documentaries beamed into our lounge rooms. From a time when 'telling tales out of school' (as Billy Hughes once put it) was not the done thing, to one where the 2024 Nemesis documentary showcased backstabbing, character assassinations and high emotions. Performance Politics shows how political life writing and documentary making have played an outsized role in creating the story-driven political culture of our times. Settling scores, shaping legacies and dramatising the democratic process, sometimes in shocking ways. 'Here is a strikingly original account of how personal narrative became central to Australian political performance and so helped transform the emotional terrain of public life. Joshua Black has opened for us a brilliant new way of understanding political culture through the stories that its leaders have told about themselves.' - Frank Bongiorno 'Groundbreaking: original questions, rich

• Binding: Hardcover

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