As Michael Easson notes in his new Chris Watson biography, Labor's first PM sought to civilise capitalism, not bring it down

Towards the end of 1954 a bright young woman from […]

The Australasian Publishing Company was keen to publish a local edition of Burnham's 1950 book 'The Coming Defeat of Communism' and tapped the former prime minister to provide an introduction. What followed -- and what preceded it -- constitutes a much overlooked chapter in both the annals of Australian publishing and the Hughes' later years

Temperance preachers of old are said to have sometimes brought on stage shuffling drunks as case studies in Demon Rum's ravages. Ron Hieser served something of the same purpose in the shaping of Bob Hawke, who passed away yesterday at the age of 89. From Quadrant in 2012, the friend and influence Hawke, with some regret, found himself obliged to leave behind

On July 29, 1953, the Canberra Trades and Labour Council, […]

Father of the House, by Kim E. Beazley. Fremantle Press, 2009, $27.95.

Apart from a regrettable interregnum in 1977–80, two Kim Beazleys, father and son, successively served in the Australian House of Representatives for some six decades from the death of John Curtin in 1945 through to the most recent federal election.

The bond between the Canberra press gallery and federal politicians […]