John Howard has the loudest voice in Australia. He has cowed his critics, muffled the press, intimidated the ABC, gagged scientists, silenced NGOs, censored the arts, prosecuted leakers, criminalised protest and shut down parliamentary scrutiny.

Though touted as a contest of values, this has been a party political assault on Australia's liberal culture. In the name of "balance" Howard's agenda has muscled its way into the intellectual life of the country.

But this has happened because we let it happen. Once again, Howard has shown his superb grasp of Australia as it really is. In His Masters Voice, David Marr investigates both a decade of suppression and the strange willingness of Australians to watch, with such little angst, their liberties disappear.