Performance Politics

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.