Promotional Information

* Widespread review coverage in major broadsheet and tabloid newspapers such as the Sydney Morning Herald, Canberra Times, Adelaide Advertiser, Otago Daily Times and the Saturday Paper * Author interviews and Op-Eds in major newspapers such as the Australian and the Age * Author interviews on TV programs such as ABC News Breakfast and Q&A * Profiles and reviews in publications such as the Conversation, the Monthly, Australian Financial Review, North & South and NZ Listener * Review coverage in literary journals such as ABR and Sydney Review of Books, and various historical and scholarly journals * Author interviews on local and national radio programs in Australia and NZ * The author will be a guest at the Melbourne Writers Festival * Big Melbourne launch with a figure such as John Howard as potential launcher * Joined initiatives to be planned alongside Deakin University * Chapter sample to be available to the trade and at major bookseller conferences * Targeted online advertising on news and current affair websites such as Fairfax and News Limited publications * Father's Day focused advertisements in literary and current affairs publications such as ABR, Monthly, Big Issue and on their associated websites * Major social media campaign including dedicated posts and advertising on Facebook and Instagram * Significant budget available for Father's Day bookseller gift guides and catalogues

About the Author

Judith Brett is the award-winning author of Robert Menzies' Forgotten People, emeritus professor of politics at La Trobe University and one of Australia's leading political thinkers. She contributes regularly to the Monthly and has written three Quarterly Essays.

Reviews

`A biography of immense power that will restore Deakin to his proper place in the national imagination: the mystic politician who gave us Australia.’
*David Marr*

`Judith Brett has resurrected a gallant democrat just when democracy seems most in need of redemption. This is a deeply engrossing portrait of a hero for our times, a complex, charismatic man with a unique capacity to build, to lead, to speak and to dream. Masterful, tender and utterly compelling.’
*Clare Wright*

`A fresh, revealing and insightful portrait of one of the great figures who shaped Australia.’
*Paul Kelly*

'This excellent biography will appeal to general readers, students and anyone interested in historical biography.’
*Books + Publishing *

`Truly one of the great political biographies of our time, a delicately nuanced, warm and insightful account.’
*Inside Story*

`Brett is a gifted interpreter of politics, past and present, and a sensitive reader of people, individually and en masse. That she has been able to encompass The Enigmatic Mr Deakin in fewer than 500 pages, compared with double that of most “landmark” biographies, attests to a rare kind of writerly judgment: for discerning where the story lies and, crucially, for knowing what can be left out.’
*Saturday Paper *

`Truly one of the great political biographies of our time, a delicately nuanced, warm and insightful account of—my personal misgiving aside—one of the most noteworthy political figures in Australian history.’
*Inside Story*

`The Enigmatic Mr Deakin stands as the culmination of her work on the history, politics and philosophy of Australian liberals, and it is the one biography of Deakin to which we will repeatedly return. Brett’s writing is capable of extraordinary clarity, insight and compassion.’
*Mark McKenna, Monthly*

`This is a fine biography—accessible, perceptive, and in the best way, sympathetic. Deakin has found the interpreter he deserves for a modern audience…If our politicians still read books—and sometimes one does wonder—Judith Brett’s new biography should be required reading.’
*Australian Book Review *

`A significant contribution to biography and political history that is beautifully written and full of interest.’
*Royal Victorian Historical Society*

`Accessible and informative, this style of biography layers facts over questions that draw in readers curious about what makes human beings do the things we do. This is a biography for our times.’
*Daily Review *

`Judith Brett has rounded out Alfred Deakin in this fascinating biography that is a delight to read.’
*Boffins Books*

`For sympathy and insight, Judith Brett’s The Enigmatic Mr Deakin is a welcome contribution to analysis of Australian politics. A difficult subject, often deliberately elusive, is captured with skill. Through close and compelling reading of Deakin’s private writing, Brett brings to life his political thinking and spiritual wrestling. An important book.’
*Glyn Davies, Best Books of 2017, Australian Book Review*

`The Enigmatic Mr Deakin explores our second prime minister’s career with full attention to his intense inner life and family relationships. Her title points to the puzzles, but Brett doesn’t simplify; she ponders, suggests, dramatises. Closely observed and psychologically persuasive, this is more than a life-and-times; it is a life.’
*Brenda Niall, Best Books of 2017, Australian Book Review *

`Judith Brett’s excellent The Enigmatic Mr Deakin introduces this Federation-era giant to a modern audience: a timely reminder of the achievements and failings of a century ago, and perfect summer reading for any Australian politician whose aspirations rise above seat-warming.’
*Frank Bongiorno, Best Books of 2017, Australian Book Review *

`Judith Brett achieves something rare in political biography: a synthesis of the public life with the beliefs, doubts, private struggles, and spiritual inquiry that made The Enigmatic Mr Deakin our most intriguing prime minister.’
*James Walter, Best Books of 2017, Australian Book Review *

`In this engrossing and quietly profound biography, Judith Brett brings Deakin back into Australia’s contemporary political imagination, so we can better understand how he shaped the country we live in today…In this age of increasingly polarised politics, Brett’s book is at once a warm portrait of a great politician and a sharp provocation to today’s leaders to forge a better way.’
*John Daley, CEO Grattan Institute, Prime Minister’s Summer Reading List 2017*

`A woman’s eye on a powerful man has never felt so penetrating, perceptive and, surprisingly, loving.’
*Clare Wright, Sydney Morning Herald’s Year in Reading*

`This book is a window into a time of growth and democratisation, of shifting allegiances towards the common benefit of nationhood.’
*Inside Story*

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000} span.s1 {font-kerning: none} `Alfred Deakin, long my favourite Victorian, was truly the full package: polymath, progressive, idealist, spiritualist, man of action. And he had a fantastic beard. All he lacked was a good biography—but not anymore.’
*Saturday Paper, Best Books of 2017*

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000} span.s1 {font-kerning: none} `Her timely and important biography of Deakin is especially welcome…A vivid portrait of Deakin and his family as well as a social history of Melbourne at that time.’
*Spectator*