The Eighties

'A rattling account, quick-cut and filmic, of contrasting, often overlapping, events: high and low culture, the big moments nestling in the finer longforgotten detail. And the detail here is the thing, a running authorial sleight of hand that salts a nimble, skipping narrative with enough fine-grained close-up to give the impression of a dense and exhaustive study without being tempted into the many digressions that detail might, in less disciplined hands, provoke.' -the Age 'A very impressive achievement of historical synthesis, written in lucid, fast-moving prose with an eye for the telling detail. This is fine writing for the decade that brought Australia fine dining.' -the Monthly 'Frank Bongiorno has found his way through this minefield and produced one of the most compelling histories of Australia in the late twentieth century ... Bongiorno has rendered the eighties in all its brave, avaricious and gaudy glory.' -Labour History 'My guide down the foggy ruins of time is a 1980s teenager who's now an ANU historian. His comprehensive tour is a canny mix of economic history and news headlines.' -Canberra Times 'Meaty and entertaining ... The Eighties reconjur[es] the full flavour of the time - the tackiness of its fraudsters and jailbird entrepreneurs, the -cruelty of its economic fallout.' -the Australian 'Frank Bongiorno has successfully negotiated the minefield of Australia's political egos to write the definitive account of an inspired, infuriating decade.'- George Megalogenis