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Cannon Fire: A Life in Print by Michael Cannon

Michael Cannon is best known as the author of landmark and popular works of Australian history, including The Land Boomers (1966), and as the founding editor of Historical Records of Victoria. But Cannon, the child and grandchild of important figures in Australian independent journalism, developed a fascination with print media early in his life and had a long and colourful career in printing, publishing and editing books, newspapers and magazines. In Cannon Fire he brings to life many notable personalities with whom he worked, including Keith and Rupert Murdoch, and recreates the ink-stained, cigarette-smoke-filled and always well-lubricated worlds of publishing across Melbourne and Sydney in the second half of the twentieth century. More than this, Cannon’s intimate account of a life that began in the 1920s fascinates as both a personal story of unusual courage in the face of challenge and heartache, and as a tale of times now passing from memory.

“Has the tone of someone for whom writing was not just a pleasant pastime but also far preferable to any other activity.” – Inside Story

“Cannon Fire is highly recommended for those interested in Australian history and the media from a driven journalist and prolific author’s perspective. Michael Cannon is almost painfully honest in his recollections of his long life which encompassed so many highs and some setbacks. A skilled raconteur, Michael recreates for us a life of influence and details his dealings with our media moguls, politicians and the bureaucracy. It is quite a story.” – Ranald MacDonald

Michael Cannon was the founding editor of Historical Records of Victoria and an award-winning journalist, newspaper editor and historian. He wrote and edited more than thirty books, including bestseller The Land Boomers, which caused a sensation in Australia in the 1960s. In 1969, he edited The Vagabond Papers for Melbourne University Press and in 1970 was awarded a Commonwealth Literary Fellowship. From 1971 to 1998, he published a steady stream of books. His extensive personal papers are held by the National Archives.

ISBN: 9780522878721

Paperback, 256pp, 2022

Original price was: $39.99.Current price is: $29.99.

8 in stock