Wednesdays with Bob
Derek Rielly
1
December 2017, RRP $32.99,
Macmillan Trade Paperback
A unique portrait of Australia’s
longest serving Labour prime minister
On Wednesdays
this past year the longest serving Labour prime minister – he won four
elections between 1983 and 1991 and maintained a 75% approval rating with the
Australian people – has welcomed writer Derek Rielly into his home for animated
conversation and indecently fine cigars. On a sun-soaked balcony the irreverent
young writer and the charismatic old master talk life, death, love, sex,
religion, politics, sport, fatherhood, marriage and everything in between. The
result is an extraordinary and unique portrait of a remarkable Australian
eloquently, emotionally, and humorously reflecting on his past, present, and
future as never before.
Interspersing these chats with
Hawke are Rielly's interviews with Bob's contemporaries - former nemesis John
Howard, Labor allies Gareth Evans and Kim Beazley, lover and wife Blanche
D'Alpuget, good mates John Singleton and Col Cunningham, diplomat Richard
Woolcott, economist Ross Garnaut and more - all painting Hawke's enigma from
the outside and paying tribute to a man who strode the world stage with aplomb
and won the hearts of millions in Australia and worldwide.
AUTHOR
INFORMATION
Derek Rielly is a journalist born
in Perth and based in Sydney. He is the son of a pro wrestler father and
diplomat mother and the co-founder of
Stab magazine. Derek worked as a blackjack dealer and bartender before
becoming a full-time writer. Wednesdays
with Bob is his first book.
Bob Hawke is the 23rd prime
minister of Australia. Born in Bordertown, SA, he joined the Labor Party in
1947 and became leader in 1983 after a decade as ACTU president. As Prime
Minister 1983-91, Hawke won four elections, becoming the longest serving Labor
PM in history. At 87, Bob is Australia's oldest living prime minister – and
still its most popular.
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