Joshua Black Performance Politics review and information book about Australian politicians and their storytelling. NewSouth will publish the book by Joshua Black, the politcal historian, the account of how Australian politicians have become experts at fashioning and refashioning stories about themselves on September 1, 2026. On this page you can read information about the content of the book, the author and the publication.
Joshua Black Performance Politics reviews and information
Whenever a review of Performance Politics, Maverick Swimmers, Secrets, Australian politicians and their storytelling, written by Joshua Black, the Australian polical historian, appears in the media, we’ll highlight it on this page.
Performance Politics
Australian Politicians and Their Storytelling
- Author: Joshua Black (Australia)
- Book type: Australian history, Australian politics
- Publisher: NewSouth Publishing
- To be released: September 1, 2026
- Length: 336 pages
- Format: paperback / ebook
- Prize: $ 44.99
- Buying options >
Blurb of the book by Joshua Black on Australian politicians and their Storytelling
In Performance Politics historian and speechwriter Joshua Black provides an eye-opening account of how Australian politicians have become experts at fashioning and refashioning stories about themselves, their lives, personal ambitions and political entanglements. Delving into memoirs, autobiographies, documentaries, media coverage, personal papers and original interviews, the book reveals how much of our recent political history has been delivered through the prism of the publishing house, the book launch, the documentary, and the lounge rooms where political retrospectives were broadcast. From a time when ‘telling tales out of school’ (as Billy Hughes once put it) was not the done thing, to one where the 2024 Nemesis documentary showcased backstabbing, character assassinations and high emotions.
Performance Politics shows how political life writing and documentary making has played an outsized role in creating the story-driven political culture of our times. Settling scores, shaping legacies and dramatising the democratic process, sometimes in shocking ways.
Joshua Black is a political historian, speechwriter, policy researcher and media adviser and co-editor of Gold Standard? Remembering the Hawke Government (NewSouth).