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'From the ashes of the darkest event in human history, Australian Jews built a thriving community, one with proportionally more Holocaust survivors than anywhere else in the world bar Israel. Mark Leibler grew up in this community, and in time became a leader of it. This book shows how Leibler rose to a position of immense influence in Australian public life by skilfully entwining his roles as a Zionist leader and a tax lawyer to some of the country’s richest people.
'The book vividly paints a cast of Australian characters – among them Paul Keating, John Howard, Julia Gillard and Noel Pearson—who came to know Leibler and to call him a friend, along with people like Kevin Rudd and Bob Carr, who see Leibler as no friend at all. Finally, the book charts the surprise turn in Leibler’s life, when a social and political conservative became a committed advocate for radical reform on behalf of Australia’s Indigenous people.
'This many-layered book is a portrait of Jewish life in Australia, of the interaction between private wealth and politics, and of a man whose energy, formidable work habits and forcefulness that often tips into pugnacity have made him a highly effective player in Australian affairs.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Garry Sturgess Review of Michael Gawenda, The Powerbroker : Mark Leibler, an Australian Jewish Life and of Suzanne Rutland, Lone Voice : The Wars of Isi Leibler
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Journal of Biography and History , no. 6 2022; (p. 275-279)
— Review of The Powerbroker : Mark Leibler, an Australian Jewish Life 2020 single work biography ; Lone Voice : The Wars of Isi Leibler 2021 single work biography 'Separate biographies of two brothers appearing roughly contemporaneously are rare, and with both of them making a strong case for why each of their subjects, Isi Leibler (1934) and Mark Leibler (1943), should be regarded as the pre-eminent Australian Jewish leaders of their generation. The brothers’ sense of competition as they championed Jewish causes together, as rivals, separately and in different lands, inevitably framed the question of who has contributed more while obscuring the value of their joint efforts and the overall worth of the duumvirate. On antiSemitism, Zionism, Soviet Jewry, Cold War analysis, and international diplomacy, particularly centred on the United Nations (both as a proactive forum for raising issues or as an anti-Israel collective in need of reform), their legacy has been farreaching, transcending parochial communal issues to speak of larger concerns. Indeed, they are both regarded as influential Jewish leaders internationally. Isi, who died in 2020, was an independent and acute observer of Israeli politics, earning his right to criticise by picking up sticks and living in Jerusalem since 1998; Mark continues to speak out on Indigenous rights and recognition, and is an ever-present voice fighting anti-Semitism and its anti-Israel proxy. (Introduction) -
Matters of Identity : An Engaging Biography of Mark Leibler
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , November no. 426 2020; (p. 47-48)
— Review of The Powerbroker : Mark Leibler, an Australian Jewish Life 2020 single work biography'Michael Gawenda’s engaging biography of Melbourne lawyer Mark Leibler traverses matters of Australia’s migration history, Jewish identity, and political influence. What has it meant to live a Jewish life in an Australian city? What have been the intergenerational impacts of the Holocaust, anti-Semitism, and the establishment of the State of Israel? How, if at all, might the balance depicted between commitment to minority cultural distinctiveness and broad societal participation exhibit a way forward for multicultural futures?' (Introduction)
-
Matters of Identity : An Engaging Biography of Mark Leibler
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , November no. 426 2020; (p. 47-48)
— Review of The Powerbroker : Mark Leibler, an Australian Jewish Life 2020 single work biography'Michael Gawenda’s engaging biography of Melbourne lawyer Mark Leibler traverses matters of Australia’s migration history, Jewish identity, and political influence. What has it meant to live a Jewish life in an Australian city? What have been the intergenerational impacts of the Holocaust, anti-Semitism, and the establishment of the State of Israel? How, if at all, might the balance depicted between commitment to minority cultural distinctiveness and broad societal participation exhibit a way forward for multicultural futures?' (Introduction)
-
Garry Sturgess Review of Michael Gawenda, The Powerbroker : Mark Leibler, an Australian Jewish Life and of Suzanne Rutland, Lone Voice : The Wars of Isi Leibler
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Journal of Biography and History , no. 6 2022; (p. 275-279)
— Review of The Powerbroker : Mark Leibler, an Australian Jewish Life 2020 single work biography ; Lone Voice : The Wars of Isi Leibler 2021 single work biography 'Separate biographies of two brothers appearing roughly contemporaneously are rare, and with both of them making a strong case for why each of their subjects, Isi Leibler (1934) and Mark Leibler (1943), should be regarded as the pre-eminent Australian Jewish leaders of their generation. The brothers’ sense of competition as they championed Jewish causes together, as rivals, separately and in different lands, inevitably framed the question of who has contributed more while obscuring the value of their joint efforts and the overall worth of the duumvirate. On antiSemitism, Zionism, Soviet Jewry, Cold War analysis, and international diplomacy, particularly centred on the United Nations (both as a proactive forum for raising issues or as an anti-Israel collective in need of reform), their legacy has been farreaching, transcending parochial communal issues to speak of larger concerns. Indeed, they are both regarded as influential Jewish leaders internationally. Isi, who died in 2020, was an independent and acute observer of Israeli politics, earning his right to criticise by picking up sticks and living in Jerusalem since 1998; Mark continues to speak out on Indigenous rights and recognition, and is an ever-present voice fighting anti-Semitism and its anti-Israel proxy. (Introduction)
- Melbourne, Victoria,