About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherBlack Inc.

ISBN-101863955984

ISBN-139781863955980

eBay Product ID (ePID)167734051

Product Key Features

Book TitlePolitical Animal : the Making of Tony Abbott

Number of Pages208 Pages

LanguageEnglish

TopicGeneral, Political, American Government / General

Publication Year2013

GenrePolitical Science, Biography & Autobiography

AuthorDavid Marr

FormatTrade Paperback

Dimensions

Item Height0.6 in

Item Weight6.2 Oz

Item Length7.8 in

Item Width5.3 in

Additional Product Features

SynopsisThe essential work on Tony Abbott is now an expanded, updated short book - and a crucial election-year companion. Australians want to know: what kind of man is Tony Abbott, and how would he perform as prime minister? In this dramatic portrait, David Marr shows that as a young Catholic warrior at university, Abbott was already a brutally effective politician. He later led the way in defeating the republic and, as the self-proclaimed 'political love child' of John Howard, rose rapidly in the Liberal Party. Marr shows that Abbott thrives on chaos and conflict. Part fighter and part charmer, he is deeply religious and deeply political. What happens, then, when his values clash with his need to win? This is the great puzzle of his career, but the closer he is to taking power, the more guarded he has become. Political Animal 's release as a Quarterly Essay in 2012, with its revelations of 'the punch, ' triggered intense scrutiny of Abbott's character, which culminated in Gillard's memorable speech accusing him of misogyny and, soon after, Abbott's worst ever public approval rating. This significantly expanded and updated short book gives the clearest picture yet of the man Abbott is and the prime minister he would be. 'Since witnessing the Hewson catastrophe at first hand, Abbott has worn a mask. He has grown and changed. Life and politics have taught him a great deal. But how this has shaped the fundamental Abbott is carefully obscured. What has been abandoned? What is merely hidden on the road to power? What makes people so uneasy about Abbott is the sense that he is biding his time, that there is a very hard operator somewhere behind that mask, waiting for power.' -David Marr, Political Animal "It's a more fair-minded and more generous assessment than many people, perhaps myself included, had expected. We have very different perspectives on the world but, to his credit, to some extent David Marr was able to step outside the standard leftist critique and appreciate that here was a more nuanced and complex character than perhaps many of the standard left-leaning critics would concede. Having said all of that, I certainly don't think all of his judgments were fair and I don t think all of his interpretations were correct." -Tony Abbott, Tony Abbott is poised to become the nation's next prime minister and, more than ever, Australian's are asking- what kind of man is he and how might he run the country? David Marr's Political Animal , with its revelation of 'the punch,' triggered intense scrutiny of Abbott's character in 2012. Now this expanded and updated edition of Marr's dramatic portrait gives the clearest picture yet of Abbott the man and politician. Marr shows him thriving on chaos and conflict. Part fighter and part charmer, Abbott is deeply religious and deeply political. What happens when his values clash with his absolute determination to win? That is the great puzzle of a career than began as a wild university politician in the 1970s and seem destined to end in the Lodge. 'David Marr is as brilliant a biographer and journalist as this country has produced.' Peter Craven, Spectator Australia