The first full length biography of Australia's most enigmatic prime minister.
When Harold Holt disappeared while swimming off Victoria's Cheviot Beach just before Christmas 1967, Australia was given one of its great and enduring mystery stories. The death of Australia's eleventh prime minister has remained part of popular imagination ever since.
Harold Holt's death had both immediate and long-term consequences for the Australian nation. Not only did it lose a prime minister active in the rejuvenation of its social life and domestic policy, it also lost a key advocate in Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War. His death created a power vacuum in conservative politics and crippled foreign policy.
However, behind the enduring and often macabre interest in Holt's death lies the fascinating story of a self-made man who set his sights on becoming prime minister while still at university. Holt never deviated from pursuing this ambition as he acquired an aura of privilege and success to eventually penetrate and manipulate that class of Australians who felt they were the natural rulers.
'The Life And Death Of Harold Holt' presents a detailed and searching profile of a man who longed for power but who found ultimately that its exercise demanded of him more than he was able to give.
