Performance Politics

Publisher's description:
How has Australian political life become so personal, emotional and autobiographical?

In Performance Politics, historian and speechwriter Joshua Black provides an eye-opening account of how Australian politicians have become experts at fashioning stories about themselves, their lives, personal ambitions and political entanglements. Delving into memoirs, autobiographies, documentaries, media coverage, personal papers and original interviews, this book reveals how much of our recent political history has been delivered through the prism of the publishing house, the book launch and documentaries beamed into our lounge rooms. From a time when ‘telling tales out of school’ (as Billy Hughes once put it) was not the done thing, to one where the 2024 Nemesis documentary showcased backstabbing, character assassinations and high emotions.

Performance Politics shows how political life writing and documentary making have played an outsized role in creating the story-driven political culture of our times. Settling scores, shaping legacies and dramatising the democratic process, sometimes in shocking ways.

Author: Joshua Black

Publisher: NewSouth Publishing

Format: Paperback

Pages: 352

Published: 1 September 2026

ISBN: 9781761170836