Home

$29.95 (Paperback book / Scribe Publications / ISBN:9781921215940)

The Longest Decade

1921215941

Revised and updated edition.

Before the 1990s, the decades in Australia used to run to a predictable script of bust, boom, and bust. They’d commence with the economy in the pits, assume the personality of the good times that followed, and conclude with another collapse. Conveniently, this cycle took about ten years to play out.

Paul Keating and John Howard altered the nation’s body-clock. Between them, they dominated 30 years of power, as both treasurers and prime ministers. Typically, they are seen only as antagonists with competing visions of Australia and its place in the world. In The Longest Decade, George Megalogenis argues that they also deserve to be seen as the twin architects of the political, economic and social revolution that took Australia through a period of trauma and recovery, and then on to an era of unprecedented affluence.

Based on exclusive interviews with both Keating and Howard, and on Megalogenis’s many years experience as a member of the Canberra press gallery, The Longest Decade is a brilliant, non-partisan analysis of the forces that shape Australia today — from the rise of working women to the triumph of the McMansion.

This is the story of how an era came to be defined by Keating and Howard, but it is also the bigger story of how Australia became a more complex society, and how the nation’s evolution, in turn, forced its leaders to adapt. It is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand Australia in the 21st century.

This revised and updated edition includes several additional chapters dealing with the termination of the Keating–Howard era.

Where Can I Get It?
Carlton In stock
Hawthorn In stock
Malvern In stock
Port Melbourne In stock
St Kilda In stock

All in-print titles are available to order online. Items that are currently not in-stock but are available can still be ordered. Prices are subject to change without notice. In-store availability is updated daily.

New Australian Studies

1921206578

Demons At Dusk: Massacre At Myall Creek
Peter Stewart

$29.95 (Paperback book / Sid Harta Publishers )

1838 and the British Empire is expanding relentlessly. On a remote cattle station on the frontier of the young New South Wales colony a lonely convict hut keeper is forced to confront the power and greed, which drives th...

1921410493

The Melbourne Tram Book: Second Edition
Dale Budd

$24.95 (Paperback book / Univ Nsw Pr )

Quirky, compact and endearing – the second edition of this colourful tribute to a Melbourne icon beautifully captures the essence of one of the city’s most beloved symbols.

More than 200 photographs and illustrations...


9781863952156

Quarterly Essay 30: Last Drinks: The Impact of the Northern Territory Intervention.
Paul Toohey

$15.95 (Paperback book / Black Inc )

In June it will be a year since the Northern Territory intervention was announced. In Quarterly Essay 30, Paul Toohey offers a definitive account of how it came about and what it has achieved. In this riveting piece of r...

1921215941

The Longest Decade
George Megalogenis

$29.95 (Paperback book / Scribe Publications )

Revised and updated edition.

Before the 1990s, the decades in Australia used to run to a predictable script of bust, boom, and bust. They’d commence with the economy in the pits, assume the personality of the good times ...


9781741754384

Macquarie Pen Anthology Of Aboriginal Literature
Anita Heiss and Peter Minter

$39.95 (Trade paperback / Allen & Unwin )

A groundbreaking collection of work from some of the great Australian Aboriginal writers, the Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature offers a rich panorama of over 200 years of Aboriginal culture, history and l...

1741754771

Unstill Life: Art Politics and Living With Clifton Pugh
Judith Pugh

$32.95 (Trade paperback / Allen & Unwin )

Judith and Clifton Pugh met in September 1970. He was an artist with an international reputation; she was twenty years younger than him and had just joined the Australian Labor Party. Their decade together was a heady mi...



Copyright © 2008 Readings Pty Ltd. Site designed and developed by Inventive Labs.