In 1941, RG Menzies delivered to war-time Australia what was to be one of his most influential speeches. 'The Forgotten People' was a direct address to the Australian middle class, who would return him to power in 1949 and keep him there until his retirement in 1966.
Taking us deep into both the man and the culture he represented and well beyond the restraints of a conventional biography, Brett reveals the ambivalence that lay at the heart of the Australian self-image. This is absorbing and essential reading for an understanding of the Australia that produced a Menzies -- and of a prime minister who, whether loved or hated, shaped the way we imagined ourselves in the postwar world.
