Don Watson
Australian author, historian, and speechwriter, best known as Paul Keating’s former speechwriter and for books such as Recollections of a Bleeding Heart, Death Sentence, Weasel Words, and The Bush.
Books
This list of books are ONLY the books that have been ranked on the lists that are aggregated on this site. This is not a comprehensive list of all books by this author.
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1. Recollections Of A Bleeding Heart
A Portrait of Paul Keating PM
An insider’s chronicle of serving as chief speechwriter to Australia’s prime minister in the early–mid 1990s, blending diary-like observation with sharp analysis of policy battles, media pressures, and the craft of political language. It traces the ambition behind landmark speeches and reforms—economic restructuring, engagement with Asia, reconciliation, and the republican push—while revealing cabinet tensions, factional warfare, and the corrosive tempo of the press cycle. Wry, incisive, and ultimately disillusioned, it portrays a brilliant yet combative leadership striving for “big picture” change as fatigue, hubris, and shifting public mood culminate in electoral defeat.