There is a fine tradition in Australia of two-volume prime ministerial biographies. John La Nauze on Alfred Deakin (1965), Laurie Fitzhardinge on Billy Hughes (1964, 1979), John Edwards on John Curtin (2017, 2018), Allan Martin on Robert Menzies (1993, 1999), Jenny Hocking on Gough Whitlam (2009, 2012): all are insightful and enduring accounts of significant figures who exerted deep influence on the country.

By most yardsticks, Bob Hawke is deserving of a two-volume biography. He led Labor to an unprecedented four terms in office, which his successor supplemented with a fifth. He presided over enormous change across the whole of Australian government, especially in its economy. And he retained for many years the public’s affection at a level which, if not quite rising to the great love affair that he liked to claim, was certainly warmer than that enjoyed by his successors.