Australian Biographical Monographs, No. 8

This is a lively new account of John Grey Gorton and his legacy. Within the constraints of a short biography, Paul Williams has effectively challenged some of the most common previous assessments of Gorton’s political ideas and achievements.

– Professor Rodney Smith, Department of Government and International Relations, University of Sydney

This new monograph on Australian Prime Minister Sir John Gorton (1968-71) by Dr Paul Williams, Senior Lecturer in politics, journalism and public relations at Griffith University’s School of Humanities, Languages and Social Sciences, is more than just a snapshot of one of Australia’s more interesting, and at times, most difficult to understand prime ministers. Rather, Dr Williams’s considerable additional research provides a better understanding of the political context of Gorton’s times. We come to appreciate the changing nature of Australian politics and society, including Labor’s resurgence and the fracturing of the Liberal Party’s dominance, and how each of these affected Gorton’s prime ministership and assessments of his performance. Dr Williams has published widely on voter behaviour and political leadership in Australian scholarly journals, and he is a frequent commentator on Australian federal and Queensland state politics in the news media.