Eighties: The Decade that Transformed Australia The

Product Description

The 1980s is the most controversial decade in Australian history. This book brings the events of that time - the personalities and deeds, the highs and lows - to vivid life.

The Eighties begins with the Ash Wednesday bushfires and concludes with the election of Paul Keating as prime minister by the Labor caucus just before Christmas, 1991. But while it deals with the Hawke years, this is not just another political history.

It finds room for The Comedy Company and INXS alongside Alan Bond, Kylie Minogue, Hugh Morgan, Cliff Young and Geoffrey Blainey. It describes the corporate raiding of Robert Holmes à Court and John Elliott, the building of resorts in Queensland by whiteshoed businessmen, and the collection of sports cars, helicopters and even an Australian Rules football club by a flamboyant doctor named Geoffrey Edelsten.

It recovers largely forgotten stories - of factory workers proud of their skills who found themselves surplus to requirements; of businessmen or farmers who took out loans in Swiss francs and were ruined when the Australian dollar collapsed; of Vietnamese families battling to make new lives for themselves in the suburbs.

It tells of the Bicentenary, the Australia Card, the coming of the AIDS virus, the America's Cup, Joh for Canberra and Crocodile Dundee - all with wit, deep knowledge and gripping narrative. The Eighties is contemporary history at its best.