Publisher's Synopsis
John Button has always been one of the more fascinating characters of Australian politics. Behind his amusing and entertaining style was a politician of substance, a man who seemed to ignore all the traditional rules of Labor to carve out a successful career in federal politics, holding a senior position in the federal area for sixteen years without being challenged.
This important new biography of Button explains his success
it goes behind the public image to show a tough and effective political operator, a numbers man of skill with a shrewd tactical brain. Starting on the outside in Victoria, his gradual shift to the centre of influence within the party illustrates too the changes within Labor as it prepared itself for government and for tackling the challenges of the 1980s.
Written by one of Australia's leading political scientists, Dodging Raindrops is both a portrait of a remarkable individual and a study of the dramatic changes in the Australian Labor Party over the past 40 years. It is a book that all who are interested in Australian history and politics will want to read.
Patrick Weller is Professor of Politics at Griffith University. He has been writing about Australian politics for twenty years, and is the author of many books, including Can Ministers Cope?, First Among Equals and Malcolm Fraser, P.M.
