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Issue Details: First known date: 2016... 2016 Evatt : A Life
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'John Murphy’s Evatt: A Life is a biography of Australian parliamentarian and jurist HV Evatt. Remembered as the first foreign minister to argue for an independent Australian policy in the 1940s and for his central role in the formation of the UN, Evatt went on to be the leader of the Labor party in the 1950s, the time of the split that resulted in the party being out of power for a generation. Evatt traces the course of Evatt’s life and places him in the context of a long period of conservatism in Australia. It treats Evatt’s inner, personal life as being just as important as his spectacular, controversial and eventual tragic public career. Murphy looks closely at Evatt’s previously unexamined private life and unravels some of the puzzles that have lead Evatt to be considered erratic, even mad.' (Publication summary)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Sydney, New South Wales,: NewSouth Publishing , 2016 .
      image of person or book cover 3956331189680031277.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 464p.
      Note/s:
      • Published September 2016
      ISBN: 9781742234465

Works about this Work

[Review] Evatt : A Life Stephen Wilks , 2018 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Journal of Biography and History , December no. 1 2018; (p. 217-221)

— Review of Evatt : A Life John Murphy , 2016 single work biography
[Review Essay] Evatt : A Life Paul Strangio , 2017 single work essay
— Appears in: Australian Journal of Politics and History , September vol. 63 no. 3 2017; (p. 476–477)

'Whether the product of the economics of Australia’s small book-buying market or a self-deprecating national temperament, there is something of an inhibition towards examining lives that have already received biographical treatment. H.V. Evatt defies that convention. John Murphy’s is the fourth full-scale biography of him. In the introduction, Murphy suggests that, despite those previous studies, Evatt has mostly remained “out of focus, evading capture or only being captured in fragments”.'  (Introduction)

What's Up, Doc? Gerard Henderson , 2017 single work review
— Appears in: TSIR , June no. 5 2017;

— Review of Evatt : A Life John Murphy , 2016 single work biography
Wrong Place, Wrong Time Paul Rodan , 2016 single work review
— Appears in: Inside Story , September 2016;

— Review of Evatt : A Life John Murphy , 2016 single work biography

'Any account of the life of Herbert Vere Evatt must address two key questions: could the Labor split of the mid 1950s have been avoided with a leader other than Evatt, and was Evatt “mad”? John Murphy tackles these issues and more in a very readable account of one of Australian politics’ most perplexing characters. Evatt has perhaps been the subject of more studies than many prime ministers, which would be small solace to a man who so greatly craved that high office but who, after failing to reach it by a slim margin in 1954, spent the next six years in very public political and psychological disintegration.' (Introduction)   

Lighting Labor's Powder Keg : The Paradox of Herbert Vere Evatt Neal Blewett , 2016 single work essay
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , November no. 386 2016; (p. 8-11)
'John Murphy opens his magisterial study of Herbert Vere Evatt – the fourth major biography of the good doctor – with an essay on the challenge of writing biography in general, and of writing one on Evatt in particular. He prefaces this discussion with a short description of one fateful and illuminating incident late in Evatt’s political career. On the evening of 19 October 1955 in the House of Representatives, during a debate on the Petrov Royal Commission, Evatt, then leader of the federal ALP, stunned his followers and invited the derision of his opponents when he claimed that he had been in communication with Vyacheslav Molotov, Russian foreign minister and a Stalin henchman for thirty years, who had declared that disputed documents before the Commission were forgeries. The prime minister, Robert Menzies, who had feared a forensic dissection of the Commission Report, could not believe his luck: ‘The Lord hath delivered him into my hands.’' (Introduction)
Lucifer-like Ambition Costs a Man and a Nation Michael Sexton , 2016 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 8-9 October 2016; (p. 30)

— Review of Evatt : A Life John Murphy , 2016 single work biography
John Murphy's Evatt : a Labor Leader's Insatiable Ambition and Paranoia Michael Sexton , 2016 single work review
— Appears in: Brisbane Times , 7 October 2016;

— Review of Evatt : A Life John Murphy , 2016 single work biography
'Herbert Vere Evatt is one of the big figures of Australian political – and legal – history. But he has proved an elusive subject for four previous biographers. Now comes a new life by Melbourne University politics professor John Murphy. ...'
What's Up, Doc? Gerard Henderson , 2017 single work review
— Appears in: TSIR , June no. 5 2017;

— Review of Evatt : A Life John Murphy , 2016 single work biography
Wrong Place, Wrong Time Paul Rodan , 2016 single work review
— Appears in: Inside Story , September 2016;

— Review of Evatt : A Life John Murphy , 2016 single work biography

'Any account of the life of Herbert Vere Evatt must address two key questions: could the Labor split of the mid 1950s have been avoided with a leader other than Evatt, and was Evatt “mad”? John Murphy tackles these issues and more in a very readable account of one of Australian politics’ most perplexing characters. Evatt has perhaps been the subject of more studies than many prime ministers, which would be small solace to a man who so greatly craved that high office but who, after failing to reach it by a slim margin in 1954, spent the next six years in very public political and psychological disintegration.' (Introduction)   

[Review] Evatt : A Life Stephen Wilks , 2018 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Journal of Biography and History , December no. 1 2018; (p. 217-221)

— Review of Evatt : A Life John Murphy , 2016 single work biography
Lighting Labor's Powder Keg : The Paradox of Herbert Vere Evatt Neal Blewett , 2016 single work essay
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , November no. 386 2016; (p. 8-11)
'John Murphy opens his magisterial study of Herbert Vere Evatt – the fourth major biography of the good doctor – with an essay on the challenge of writing biography in general, and of writing one on Evatt in particular. He prefaces this discussion with a short description of one fateful and illuminating incident late in Evatt’s political career. On the evening of 19 October 1955 in the House of Representatives, during a debate on the Petrov Royal Commission, Evatt, then leader of the federal ALP, stunned his followers and invited the derision of his opponents when he claimed that he had been in communication with Vyacheslav Molotov, Russian foreign minister and a Stalin henchman for thirty years, who had declared that disputed documents before the Commission were forgeries. The prime minister, Robert Menzies, who had feared a forensic dissection of the Commission Report, could not believe his luck: ‘The Lord hath delivered him into my hands.’' (Introduction)
[Review Essay] Evatt : A Life Paul Strangio , 2017 single work essay
— Appears in: Australian Journal of Politics and History , September vol. 63 no. 3 2017; (p. 476–477)

'Whether the product of the economics of Australia’s small book-buying market or a self-deprecating national temperament, there is something of an inhibition towards examining lives that have already received biographical treatment. H.V. Evatt defies that convention. John Murphy’s is the fourth full-scale biography of him. In the introduction, Murphy suggests that, despite those previous studies, Evatt has mostly remained “out of focus, evading capture or only being captured in fragments”.'  (Introduction)

Last amended 17 Nov 2017 15:50:29
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