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Exit Right by Judith Brett & Poll Dancing by Mungo MacCallum

by
February 2008, no. 298

Exit Right: The unravelling of John Howard (Quarterly Essay 28) by Judith Brett

Black Inc., $14.95 pb, 124 pp

Book 2 Cover Small (400 x 600)

Poll Dancing: The story of the 2007 election by Mungo MacCallum

Black Inc., $24.95 pb, 298 pp

Exit Right by Judith Brett & Poll Dancing by Mungo MacCallum

by
February 2008, no. 298

Since the November federal election, kicking John Howard while he’s down has become something of a national pastime. While Howard’s take no-prisoners-except-on-Nauru behaviour has now exposed him to gleeful mass taunting, the idea that the end of his resilient political career has instantly created a noble Australia, its citizens and institutions cleansed and renew ed, is wishful thinking. In this context, Judith Brett’s new Quarterly Essay injects some welcome clear-headedness. Brett rains blows on Howard, but she is not a Howard-hater in the counterproductive and grandiose style of, say, Phillip Adams. Instead, she takes aim at the former prime minister in a characteristically nuanced and astute way. She bridges a gap – too often in Australia, a gulf – between scholars and interested laypeople, offering prose that is accessible and lively but that avoids dumbing down complex issues.

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