Penguin Books Australia

In the last Quarterly Essay for 2010, George Megalogenis considers Australia's political dead zone.  The Hawke, Keating and early Howard years were ones of bold reform; recently we have seen an era of power without purpose.  But why?  Is it down to powerful lobbies, or the media, or a failure of leadership, or all the above?  And whatever the case, how will hard decisions be taken...

Andrew Rawnsley's bestselling book lifts the lid on the second half of New Labour's spell in office, with riveting inside accounts of all the key events from 9/11 and the Iraq War to the financial crisis and the parliamentary expenses scandal; and entertaining portraits of the main players as Rawnsley takes us through the triumphs and tribulations of New Labour as well as the astonishing feuds and...

A riveting look into Malaysia's most famous prime minister and his often controversial views and policies.

From one of the most senior correspondents in the Canberra Press Gallery comes a rare account of life as a political insider.

 Born in a small village in Cyprus, Niki Savva spent her childhood in Melbourne's working-class suburbs ­— frontiers where locals were suspicious of olive oil, and Greek kids spoke Gringlish to their parents.

Based on an extensive series of detailed and off-the-record interviews, Nicholas Stuart — Kevin Rudd's biographer and the author of an acclaimed study into the 2007 election — provides a critical examination of Labor in office and of the key events and crucial moments leading to Rudd's downfall.

In this lyrical, unsentimental, and compelling memoir, the son of a black African father and a white American mother searches for a workable meaning to his life as a black American.

It begins in New York, where Barack Obama learns that his father - a figure he knows more as a myth than as a man - has been killed in a car accident.

The Unfinished Global Revolution is a front-line view of the challenges of leadership and the importance of creating greater global cooperation.

The former United Nations Deputy Secretary-General, Mark Malloch-Brown diagnoses the central global predicament of the 21st century. As we have become more integrated, we have also become less governed. National governments are no longer equipped to address...

'Few historian write as well as McPherson, and none evoke the sound of battle with greater clarity . . . McPherson draws on almost fifty years of research to present a cogent and concise narrative of how Lincoln, working against enormous odds, saved the United States of America.'
- Jean Edward Smith, THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW