History rewritten

John Howard and Peter Costello hold a unique position in Australian literary circles; people actually read their books. Yet where both conservative leaders became best-sellers, an avalanche of Labor books floundered in the remainders bins. Lindsay Tanner’s Open Australia sold around 400 copies; Wayne Swan’s Postcode sold just over 1,000; Bob Carr’s Thoughtlines sold half that; and Craig Emerson’s Vital Signs, Vibrant Society not much more. Admittedly, Mr Carr did better with his Speccie-like Diary of a Foreign Minister, but a serious political tome it was not.

Now the deluge continues, with the current flood of books presumably designed to merrily rewrite Labor’s recent woeful history. Taking Carr’s fondness for political satire to even greater heights, former climate change minister Greg Combet bases the pitch for his book around the conceit of being offered the job of PM by Julia Gillard. Meanwhile, the World’s Greatest Treasurer puts the finishing touches to his own no doubt class-warfare driven The Good Fight, whilst Ms Gillard threatens to reveal all about her terrible suffering at the hands of evil Aussie misogynists in My Story.

Yet could there be light on the literary hill? Former Spectatorcolumnists Mark Latham and Chris Bowen both have less partisan affairs coming out. For those less eager to justify and regurgitate the follies of the hapless Rudd-Gillard years, they may be worth a look.

speccie today