The Powerbroker: Mark Leibler: An Australian Jewish Life

(Hardback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

From the ashes of the darkest event in human history, Australian Jews built a thriving community, one with proportionally more Holocaust survivors than anywhere else in the world bar Israel. Mark Leibler grew up in this community, and in time became a leader of it. This book shows how Leibler rose to a position of immense influence in Australian public life by skilfully entwining his roles as a Zionist leader and a tax lawyer to some of the countrys richest people. The book vividly paints a cast of Australian charactersamong them Paul Keating, John Howard, Julia Gillard and Noel Pearsonwho came to know Leibler and to call him a friend, along with people like Kevin Rudd and Bob Carr, who see Leibler as no friend at all. Finally, the book charts the surprise turn in Leiblers life, when a social and political conservative became a committed advocate for radical reform on behalf of Australias Indigenous people. This many-layered book is a portrait of Jewish life in Australia, of the interaction between private wealth and politics, and of a man whose energy, formidable work habits and forcefulness that often tips into pugnacity have made him a highly effective player in Australian affairs.

Reviews

Power, he taught me about power. How to get it and how to use it.

Author Bio

Michael Gawenda is one of Australias best-known journalists and authors. In a journalism career spanning four decades, Michael has been a political reporter, a foreign correspondent based in London and in Washington, a columnist, a feature writer, a senior editor at Time Magazine and the Editor and Editor-in-Chief of The Age in Melbourne from 1997 to 2004. He was the inaugural Director of the Centre for Advancing Journalism at the University of Melbourne. He is an honorary research fellow of the Centre.