He was a good kid from the leafy eastern suburbs-the product of one of Sydney's oldest private schools. Then a chance encounter with the Young Liberal Movement changed his life forever.
John Hyde Page joined the Liberal Party and was inducted into the black arts of backroom politics. He did the numbers, made the deals, and always regarded his factional opponents as the real enemy. Only towards the end of a long descent into doubt and disillusionment was he forced to confront the possibility that he too was one of the villains.
Once described in media as the "mysterious John Hyde Page" and that "scary conservative Christian", Hyde Page spent six years in the engine room of the Liberal Party of Australia. His account of how Australia's most successful political party is being gutted by forces of religious and ideological partisanship is hilarious, alarming and a valuable contribution to our understanding of contemporary politics. Includes encounters with John Howard, Malcolm Turnbull, Amanda Vanstone and Tony Abbott.
