Hawke: The Early Years

Considered a giant killer to unionists and a crypto-Communist to some employers, Robert James Lee Hawke is one of the great men of Australian government. An intimate portrait, this account reveals how the son of devout Christian parents was reared to public duty and to the ambition of political leadership. It details Hawke’s many achievements—as president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions as well as of the Australian Labor Party—and demonstrates how an extraordinary man struggled to overcome his drinking and philandering in order to rise to the highest office in Australia.