Keeper Of The Faith: A biography of Jim Cairns
Jun 2013 · Sold by Melbourne Univ. Publishing
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500
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About this ebook
Jim Cairns is a familiar sight around the markets of Melbourne, seated at a table stacked with copies of his latest book. It seems an unlikely occupation for a man who was once the driving force and major thinker in the Labor Party Left, a man who reached the positions of Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer in Australia's most reformist government under Gough Whitlam.
Cairns' post-1975 trajectory bewildered many of his one-time followers, not least the significant section of the baby-boomer generation who rallied behind him during the Moratoriums against the Vietnam War. To some he is a tragic fallen hero; to others, a relic of an earlier age of idealism.
But Cairns was never a conventional politician. In this mature and sophisticated biography, Paul Strangio draws a compelling picture of the inner man, revealing a consistent thread running through the apparent contradictions of Cairns' public career. He explains how a policeman turned into a counter-culture guru; how an opponent of capitalism became Treasurer of Australia; how a devoted husband could feel 'a kind of love' for Junie Morosi.
Both highly readable and carefully researched, Keeper of the Faith reassesses the part Cairns played in shaping Australian public life. In tracing his ideological and political rivalry with Whitlam, it challenges the popular nostalgia that surrounds his former leader.
Strangio argues that Cairns' contribution to public life, especially as a voice of dissent against the established order, has been seriously underestimated. Drawing on a rich range of archival and oral sources, and recounting many fascinating anecdotes, this is a masterly portrait of one of those rare people who never waver in their search for truth.
Cairns' post-1975 trajectory bewildered many of his one-time followers, not least the significant section of the baby-boomer generation who rallied behind him during the Moratoriums against the Vietnam War. To some he is a tragic fallen hero; to others, a relic of an earlier age of idealism.
But Cairns was never a conventional politician. In this mature and sophisticated biography, Paul Strangio draws a compelling picture of the inner man, revealing a consistent thread running through the apparent contradictions of Cairns' public career. He explains how a policeman turned into a counter-culture guru; how an opponent of capitalism became Treasurer of Australia; how a devoted husband could feel 'a kind of love' for Junie Morosi.
Both highly readable and carefully researched, Keeper of the Faith reassesses the part Cairns played in shaping Australian public life. In tracing his ideological and political rivalry with Whitlam, it challenges the popular nostalgia that surrounds his former leader.
Strangio argues that Cairns' contribution to public life, especially as a voice of dissent against the established order, has been seriously underestimated. Drawing on a rich range of archival and oral sources, and recounting many fascinating anecdotes, this is a masterly portrait of one of those rare people who never waver in their search for truth.
Jim Cairns is a familiar sight around the markets of Melbourne, seated at a table stacked with copies of his latest book. It seems an unlikely occupation for a man who was once the driving force and major thinker in the Labor Party Left, a man who reached the positions of Deputy Prime Minister an...
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About the author
Paul Strangio is Associate Professor of Politics in the School of Social Sciences at Monash University. A political historian and biographer, he has written extensively about political leadership and political parties in Australia. Before recent studies of the Australian prime ministers, his last book was Neither Power Nor Glory: 100 Years of Political Labor in Victoria, 1856–1956 (2012). Paul has also been a long-time commentator on Australian politics in the print and electronic media.
He is the co-author of Understanding Prime-Ministerial Performance: Comparative Perspectives (2013), Settling the Office: The Australian Prime Ministership from Federation to Reconstruction (2016) and The Pivot of Power: Australian Prime Ministers and Political Leadership, 1949-2016 (2017).
He is the co-author of Understanding Prime-Ministerial Performance: Comparative Perspectives (2013), Settling the Office: The Australian Prime Ministership from Federation to Reconstruction (2016) and The Pivot of Power: Australian Prime Ministers and Political Leadership, 1949-2016 (2017).
Paul Strangio is Associate Professor of Politics in the School of Social Sciences at Monash University. A political historian and biographer, he has written extensively about political leadership and political parties in Australia. Before recent studies of the Australian prime ministers, his last...
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