Politics

The Whitlam Legacy edited by Troy Bramston

Item: The Whitlam Legacy
Author: Ross Mcmullin

by Ross McMullin •

March 2014, no. 359

The Federation Press, $59.95 hb, 541 pp, 9781862879034

Politics

The Whitlam Legacy edited by Troy Bramston

by Ross McMullin •

March 2014, no. 359

Having edited multi-authored retrospectives of The Wran Era (2006) and The Hawke Government (2003) together with For the True Believers: Great Labor Speeches (2013), Troy Bramston has now turned his attention to The Whitlam Legacy. It is a comprehensive survey, not confined to assessments of how much the government’s initiatives remain influential (which might seem the main focus from the title). Such assessments are included, but there is so much else: reminiscences, policy appraisals, key documents, perspectives on the Dismissal, and a contribution by Gough Whitlam.

Ross McMullin

Ross McMullin’s latest book Life So Full of Promise: Further biographies of Australia’s lost generation (2023) is his sequel to Farewell, Dear People (2013), which was awarded the Prime Minister’s Prize for Australian History. His previous biographies include Pompey Elliott (2002), which also won multiple awards, and Will Dyson: Australia’s radical genius (2006). He assembled Elliott’s extraordinary letters in Pompey Elliott at War: In his own words (2018). His political histories are The Light on the Hill (1991) and So Monstrous a Travesty: Chris Watson and the World’s first national labour government (2004).