| Summary: |
Includes: Appeasing Jakarta : correspondence / Mark Aarons, Frank Brennan, Duncan Campbell, Tony Kevin, James Mackie, Paul Monk, John Birmingham (p. 66-105).
"Guy Rundle comes to grips with John Howard, the prime minister who, on the eve of an election, seems to have turned round his political fortunes by spurning refugees and writing blank cheques for America's War on Terrorism. This is an account of John Howard's dominant ideas, his concerted 'dreaming' with its emphasis on unity and national identity that reveals him to be the most reactionary PM we have ever had, the only political leader who would allow ideas like those of One Nation to dominate the mainstream of Australian politics in order to improve his political chances. Rundle puts Howard in the context of the economic liberalism he shares with his colleagues and opponents and the conservative social ideology that sets him apart. It is a complex portrait in a radical mirror which relates John Howard to everything from Menzies' 'forgotten people' to the inadvertent glamour of the government's anti-drug advertising. It is also a plea for right-thinking people of every political persuasion to resist the call to prejudice and reaction." Author places John Howard within the context of the economic liberalism he shares with other liberal colleagues, but points out the social conservatism that sets him apart from more up-to-date liberals such as Jeff Kennett and Peter Costello. |
CATALOGUE