Kevin Rudd: An Unauthorised Political Biography by Nicholas Stuart

Book Description

Secondhand. Good condition. Wear to book corners and edges. Some pages have been dog-eared. Body text and binding are still very good.

Kevin Rudd emerged after a period of prolonged instability and internal strife within the federal ALP to establish himself as a popular leader who could unify his party and mount a real challenge to John Howard. The early reaction to his leadership, from both voters and his political adversaries, suggests that he is widely regarded as Labor's best hope in a decade of ending the Howard ascendancy.

Based on extensive interviews with the main participants, Canberra journalist Nicholas Stuart traces Rudd's life from his childhood on a Queensland dairy farm and the family's struggle after the tragic death of his father to the present. He examines in detail Rudd's university years, his diplomatic service in Copenhagen and Beijing, his political apprenticeship as Wayne Goss's chief of staff and later head of the Cabinet Office, his entry into federal politics and witnessing the disintegration of successive Labor leaders, his rapprochement with Julia Gillard, and his ultimate emergence as Labor leader. (back cover)