Dreamers and Schemers: A Political History of Australia by Frank Bongiorno

Frank Bongiorno’s Dreamers and Schemers wins ACT Book of the Year 2023 and the Australian Political Studies Association’s Henry Mayer Book Prize!

This week, it was announced that Frank Bongiorno’s comprehensive and compelling political history of Australia Dreamers and Schemers won both the ACT Book of the Year 2023 and the Australian Political Studies Association’s Henry Mayer Book Prize!

The ACT Book of the Year Award judges said: ‘The book’s perceptive honesty and contemporary sensibility shine throughout the narrative, providing readers with a fresh perspective on the subject … Bongiorno has achieved the difficult task of synthesising a large volume of material in a coherent, clear and accessible manner, and his fluent style allows deeper insight into the complex dynamics that have shaped politics in Australia.’ 

In this compelling and comprehensive work, renowned historian Frank Bongiorno presents a social and cultural history of Australia’s political life, from pre-settlement Indigenous systems to the present day.

Depicting a wonderful parade of dreamers and schemers, Bongiorno surveys moments of political renewal and sheds fresh light on our democratic life. From local pubs and meeting halls to the parliament and cabinet; from pamphleteers and stump orators to party agents and operatives – this enthralling account looks at the political insiders in the halls of power, as well as the agitators and outsiders who sought to shape the nation from the margins.

A work of political history like no other, Dreamers and Schemers will transform the way you look at Australian politics.

‘With acuity and grace, Bongiorno divines the soul of the nation … All told with a cheeky eye for detail and nose for skullduggery by a historian in full archival, narrative and rhetorical flight. A landmark work’ —Clare Wright

Paperback, 480pp, 2022

$39.99

2 in stock (can be backordered)