Political lives: Australian prime ministers and their biographers. Chris Wallace. 2023.

What was the story behind Bob Hawke’s famed biography? Why does Paul Keating think biographies of serving politicians are ‘ like Polaroids of a busy life’ while John Howard considers them a big mistake? Where is the ‘missing’ Menzies biography? Why are our early prime ministers largely absent from historical memory? Chris Wallace writes Australian political history anew through this account of prime ministers, their biographies and their biographers. Lively and astute, the book takes us into their motivations and relationships, some well-known and some hidden, and in doing so shows us Australian politics in a fresh light.