Using much new material, John Edwards’ vivid, landmark biography places John Curtin, Australia’s wartime leader, as a man of his times, puzzling through the immense changes in Australia and its region released by the mighty shock of the Pacific War. The biography locates the turning point in Australian history not at Gallipoli or the Western Front or even Federation, but in the Pacific War and Curtin’s Prime Ministership.

On 27 November former Prime Minister Paul Keating launched the book at the Lowy Institute with a speech on Curtin and political leadership.