Penguin Books Australia

Good drinkers, bad swimmers and unlikely heroes.

Since Australia's birth in 1901, twenty-seven politicians have run the national show.  Their time at the top has ranged from eight days for Frank Forde to eighteen years for Bob Menzies.  But whatever the length of their term, each Prime Minister has a story worth sharing.

As the 2010 federal election approaches, who better than Mungo MacCallum to guide us through the sweat and semantics of the campaign trail?

This typically fast-paced, witty and perceptive account follows Canberra's finest in action, peddling furiously between news cycles and racing from the pulpit to the mines in an effort to win over an increasingly sceptical electorate.

In Australian Story , Mungo MacCallum investigates the political success of Kevin Rudd. What does he know about Australia that his opponents don't? This is a characteristically barbed and perceptive look at the challenges facing the government and the country. MacCallum argues that the things we used to rely on are not there anymore. On the Right, the blind faith in markets has recently collapsed...