Readings.com.au: Walkley Non-Fiction Award 2009 Longlist

The Killing Of Caroline Byrne: A Journey For Justice

The Gap is a place where people go to wonder at the marvel that is Sydney Harbour, or to die; hurling themselves in anger or dismay from a society they hate or which has failed them - the edge of the world we know as the Emerald City.

We've signed up journalist Robert Wainwright to tell the story of Caroline Byrne, the 24 year old model who was allegedly pushed to her death at The Gap by her boyfriend, Gordon Wood, who faces trial next year. Wainwright's book is to include the story of the Byrne-Wood relationship and the several theories about Caroline Byrne's death amidst the colour and movement of people like Rivkin and his associates, Offset Alpine, Wood's life on the run in Europe and the major theme of the greed of Emerald City and its pitfalls.

Caroline Byrne was looking to end something the night in July 1995 she accompanied her boyfriend, Gordon Wood, to the Gap. But it was not to end her life, rather to help her reach its promise by ending the relationship with Gordon Wood, a man who slid through life based on his chiselled good looks and his ability to make powerful friends. He was a user who made loud, false promises which she had believed at first, submitted to despite doubts and of which she finally wanted to rid herself. But her desire to escape was his reason to kill. This is a story of a beautiful but naive woman, herself chasing a dream in a big city, who falls victim to a man and a society which covets money and power, applauds the short cuts of life and relishes excess.

Robert Wainwright has been a journalist for more than 25 years, rising from the grassroots of country journalism in Western Australia to a senior writer with The Sydney Morning Herald. His career has ranged from politics to crime, always focusing on the people behind the major news of the day. He is the author of Rose: The unauthorised biography of Rose Hancock Porteous (2002) and The Lost Boy (2004)

Firepower: The Most Spectacular Fraud In Australian History

The scandalous tale of one of the greatest business scams in Australian business history - the controversial fuel pill, Firepower.

A magic pill that cuts fuel consumption and reduces emissions ...... that was the miracle promised by Tim Johnsto' s company, Firepower.

Everyone believed him; prime ministers and presidents, doctors and diplomats, business leaders and sporting heroe - even ASIC the corporate watchdo - went along with the myth. Millions of shares were sold to investors, and by 2007, Firepower had become the biggest sporting sponsor in the country.

But it was all a sham. In this compelling account, Gerard Ryle demolishes the fairytale, exposing a wobbly financial pyramid and the greatest fraud ever committed in Australia

Tim Johnston divided his people into Oranges and Lemons. Those who did' t know him enough yet, he called Oranges. They thought he was nice and sweet and juicy. But those who really got to know him became Lemons: he left them bitter and twisted' Awards

Shortlisted for the Walkley Non-Fiction Book Award, 2009. About Gerard Ryle

Gerard Ryle is one of Australia' s most decorated investigative reporters. He has been internationally recognised for his work on everything from financial and medical scandals to police corruption. Gerard emigrated from his native Ireland in 1988, working at The AgeSydney Morning Herald.

Killer Company: James Hardie Exposed

James Hardie, the name, like the company, is a lie. The real James Hardie died a long time ago and had almost no connection to the Australian asbestos empire that grew under his partner Andrew Reid. The Reid family amassed a huge fortune as its asbestos company expanded, killing in its wake thousands of unwitting workers and customers.

Today, Reid′s grandson John Reid is an honoured multi-millionaire, revered for his patronage and philanthropy. He chaired the company for 23 years, and oversaw a strategy that ignored the dangers of asbestos and silenced Australia′s largest asbestos union and government health authorities, concealing Australia′s largest peacetime disaster. Reid mentored his eventual successor, Meredith Hellicar, who defended Hardie′s move offshore until public campaigning by asbestos disease sufferers like Bernie Banton forced the company to adequately provide for its victims.

ABC journalist Matt Peacock rips the cloak of secrecy from one of the greatest corporate scandals in Australia′s history. His painstaking research, involving newly discovered documents and interviews with over a hundred former Hardie employees and other key figures, reveals in stark detail how the company subverted the institutions designed to protect ordinary citizens, and how a dedicated group of unionists, lawyers and activists finally exposed Hardie′s subterfuge.

Peacock first warned the public about the dangers of Hardie′s asbestos empire in an award-winning radio series in 1977. He has followed the tragic trail for more than 30 years: from the company′s factories where workers had asbestos ′snowball′ fights, to the mine where Aboriginal children played in the tailings, and into thousands of houses where Hardie′s asbestos now threatens home renovators, not just from their fibro walls and ceilings, but from the dust that still lurks under their carpets.

The Mother Of Mohammed: An Australian Woman's Extraordinary Journey into Jihad

Born and raised in Mudgee, New South Wales, Rabiah Hutchinson seems an unlikely jihadist. But this former country girl turned marijuana-smoking beach bunny and hippy backpacker is a veteran of the global holy war. To Western intelligence analysts she is "the matriarch of radical Islam" or, in the words of a former CIA agent, "the Elizabeth Taylor of the jihad".

Darwin's Armada: How Four Voyagers to Australasia Won the Battle for Evolution and Changed the World

Charles Darwin, HMS Beagle, 1831-36 Sent to Cambridge to join the clergy, the young Darwin emerged with a passion for naturalism and an invitation to sail on a naval survey vessel to South America, New Zealand and Australia. That journey would change his life, and the course of modern science.

Joseph Hooker, HMS Erebus, 1839-43 Inspired by Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle, assistant-surgeon Hooker undertook his own dramatic voyage of exploration, from the Cook Islands to the Antarctic via the high society of Hobart. His botanical research added critical evidence ti Darwin's developing ideas on evolution, and he became Darwin's closest ally.

Thomas Huxley, HMS Rattlesnake, 1846-50 'Darwin's Bulldog' would become evolution's most effective champion against the clergy (coining the term agnostic'). As a brilliant, ascerbic young man, Huxley was determined to make his name through discoveries in marine biology in the Southern Hemisphere – but his most improbable discovery was that in Sydney he fell in love.

Alfred Wallace, the Amazon and South-East Asia, 1848-66 The least celebrated but perhaps the most brilliant of the four. During his many years in remote jungles as a professional specimen collector, the largely self-educated Wallace arrived independently at a theory of evolution by natural selection. He sent his idea to Darwin, precipitating a dramatic moral crisis and the writing of On the Origin of Species.

Darwin's Armanda is both a gripping adventure story and a brilliantly enlightening work of history, for the first time portraying the Darwinian revolution as a collective enterprise forged in Australasia. These four remarkable men did what one alone could not – combed the world for evidence of evolution by natural selection, and then fought tirelessly in the social and intellectual battle that followed its famous publication 150 years ago.

Together they changed the world.

Gough Whitlam: A Moment In History

This moment was not his alone, nor could it ever have come about without him…Gough Whitlam turned to Graham Freudenberg, touched him lightly on the shoulder, saying, 'It's been a long road, Comrade, but we're there', and walked out to meet the spotlight

Acclaimed biographer Jenny Hocking's Gough Whitlam: A Moment in History is the first contemporary and definitive biographical study of the former Labor Prime Minister.

From his childhood in the fledging city of Canberra to his first appearance as Prime Minister (playing Neville Chamberlain), to his extensive war service in the Pacific and marriage to Margaret, the champion swimmer and daughter of Justice Wilfred Dovey, the biography draws on previously unseen archival material, extensive interviews with family and colleagues, and exclusive interviews with Gough Whitlam himself.

Hocking's narrative skill and scrupulous research reveals an extraordinary and complex man, whose life is, in every way, formed by the remarkable events of previous generations of his family, and who would, in turn, change Australian political and cultural developments in the twentieth century.

Gough Whitlam: A Moment in History is a magnificent biography that illuminates the path that took one man to power.

The Birth Wars

Essential reading for every woman who is or may one day become a mother

Women are told they have pregnancy and birth care choices. But their only real choice is which side to take in the birth wars.

Each day battles are waged in hospitals and clinics around Australia: between those who view birth as natural and those who view birth as medical. Both sides care deeply about women and babies and, driven by deeply held beliefs, both sides claim they should manage birth fro women. They are the doctors and midwives, or 'mechanics' and 'organics', vying for power in The Birth Wars.

Based on extensive interviews, national research and moving personal stories, The Birth Wars exposes the cold reality of what happens to women and families when these two sides clash. Real women speak from the heart in this book - from those empowered by their birth experiences, to the many left traumatised, bereaved or confused.

Writer, journalist and mother Mary-Rose MacColl delves into the history of birth in Australia, the high rates of medical intervention, and the prejudices that continue to drive care practices. She show why organics and mechanics must work together to put families' needs at the centre of birth.

The Birth Wars will help Australian women to navigate one of the most important events in their lives.

The Henson Case

The Australian Prime Minister called them 'absolutely revolting'. Their removal from a Sydney art gallery was hailed by the Daily Telegraph as a 'Victory for Decency'. Cate Blanchett and members of the arts community claimed charges laid over them would affect Australia's cultural reputation.

Only now do we have the opportunity to hear the full story behind the Bill Henson photographs, which grabbed national attention in May 2008 when 20 images were removed from an exhibition and the photographer was investigated for child pornography.

David Marr, author of Dark Victory and the award-winning biography Patrick White: A Life, examines the pornography/art debate with exclusive interviews with Bill Henson, members of the NSW police force, child abuse campaigners and important figures in the Australian arts scene.

To The Bitter End: The Dramatic Story Of The Fall Of John Howard And The Rise Of Kevin Rudd

On 24 November 2007 Australia resoundingly changed government. If you think you know what really happened during that tumultuous year behind the closed doors of the Liberal Party, in the back rooms of the ACTU and deep in the campaign war room of the Labor Party, think again.

2007 was a year to remember in Australian politics. It saw the dramatic fall of John Howard and the unexpected rise of Kevin Rudd. It saw the Liberal Party buckle under the inertia of incumbency and the Labor Party find new discipline and energy. It also saw the union movement at the centre of the most effective and powerful political campaign in years.

This is the story of that year. It is about faltering ambition, driving ego, confidences lost and gained. It is about friends and enemies, truth and deception, humiliation and triumph.

With unprecedented access to the key players and countless hours of confidential interviews Peter Hartcher's To the Bitter End is a penetrating, riveting and above all revealing exploration of a year when the political stakes had never been higher.

Churchill and Australia

Winner of the 2009 Walkley Nonfiction Book Award.

Winston Churchill was a titan of the 20th century, universally acknowledged as one of the greatest leaders of his age. Yet his relationship with Australia was a troubled one, marred by conflict from the time Churchill was a junior minister in 1907 to bitter disputes over the use of Australian troops in the Second World War. The connection between the two would span the first 50 tumultuous years of the 20th century, from the Boer War through to opening salvos of the Cold War, and act as a fascinating backdrop to Australia's march from a collection of dependent colonies to full nationhood.