Bob Carr: the Reluctant Leader

Based on the author's exclusive access to Bob Carr's diaries, this book will take readers on a roller-coaster ride of political intrigue. It is an honest, frank account of a politician’s career with all its ups and downs, spiced with Carr’s own humour, opinions and frank discourse with his State and Federal colleagues.

The media has long known of Bob Carr’s devotion as a diarist, and often speculated on what his diaries might reveal of his innermost thoughts. Now the wait is over.

In researching Bob Car: the Reluctant Leader, author Marilyn Dodkin gained exclusive access to Carr’s diaries. After undertaking painstaking research, interviewing Bob Carr and his staff, as well as NSW Labor officials and politicians, and selecting hundreds of diary entries, Dodkin has been able to craft an in-depth, insider’s account of Carr’s leadership in Opposition and government from 1988 to 2003.

At first reluctant to accept the Labor leadership after the disastrous loss of government in 1988, Carr rebuilt the party and took Labor back to government in 1995. The years in Opposition were tough, as Carr battled internal party bickering and leadership manoeuvrings and squared up to two Premiers, Nick Griener and then the electorally popular and populist John Fahey.

Carr won a second term for Labor in 1999, and has now become a major force in Australian politics. He has watched as the Coalition Opposition shed numerous leaders. Bob Carr has steered New South Wales through good and bad times, including the adrenalin rush of the ‘most successful’ Olympics Games. All these events are chronicled in this book.

As one reviewer said of Dodkin’s first book, Brothers: Eight Leaders of the Labor Council of NSW: ‘It reads like a political thriller’. She has done it again – Bob Carr, The Reluctant Leader will take readers on a roller-coaster ride of political intrigue. It is an honest, frank account of a politician’s career with all its ups and downs, spiced with Carr’s own humour, opinions and frank discourse with his State and federal colleagues.