Australian History/Politics/Cultural Studies
Book Details

The Power of Speech

Australian Prime Ministers Defining the National Image

James Curran

Foreword by Paul Kelly

A highly original study of prime ministerial rhetoric that exposes the sources of our most powerful leaders' beliefs about Australia.

Awards

Shortlisted for the 2004 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards, Prize for a First Book of History.

Opinion

'This comprehensive history of the stories our prime ministers have told is essential reading.' (Age, 5 June 2004)

'an important, intriguing book that demonstrates how politicians have wrestled with the idea of what makes an Australian and how we should relate to the world since the 1940s . . . Curran is a subtle thinker who has distilled meaning from a mass of documents and has demonstrated how Australia's leaders have struggled to define a sense of national identity . . . this book will appeal to anybody who understands that ideas are the raw material of politics.' (Weekend Australian, 22-23/5/2004)

About this Title

'This is an important and timely analysis of how Australia's modern prime ministers have tried to articulate a new sense of Australian identity . . . a valuable and compelling account.'
--Paul Kelly, journalist and author of The End of Certainty

The subjects of this book are five fascinating prime ministers--Gough Whitlam, Malcolm Fraser, Bob Hawke, Paul Keating and John Howard--and how they view Australia.

Until the 1960s, our nation believed itself to be British. Then, during a decade of momentous change, this concept of our national identity collapsed. It was buried by the forces of cultural and political renewal; by disturbing and exciting developments in Asia; and by a dawning recognition that the global era of colonial power was over.

The result was a crisis of national meaning reflected in public debates about multiculturalism, Australia's relationships with its Asian neighbours, the dispossession of indigenous Australians, and the nation's involvement in war. In recent years, our political leaders have played a conspicuous role in the controversy.

In The Power of Speech, James Curran explores the end of the idea of British Australia, and how successive prime ministers have attempted to assert personal, and often competing, visions of Australian nationalism in its place. This highly original study of prime ministerial rhetoric exposes the sources of our most powerful leaders' beliefs about Australia.

About the Author

James Curran has a PhD in History from the University of Sydney. Since 2001, he has worked as a policy adviser in the NSW and Commonwealth Public Service. Dr Curran is the John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library Visiting Scholar for 2004.

978-0-522-85098-7