“We were a motley mob, we sans-culottes of Canberra …” In this vastly entertaining book, Mungo MacCallum captures the spirit of a nation-changing time. He portrays the Whitlam government’s key figures – from Gough and Margaret to Lionel Murphy, Bill Hayden and Jim Cairns – as well as “the other mob” in opposition – Billy McMahon, John Gorton, Malcolm Fraser and many more. The Whitlam Mob addresses some crucial questions: What was the night of the long prawns? Who was the playboy of the parliament? And who was “the toe-cutter”? This is Mungo at his best: vivid and barbed, nostalgic but always clear-eyed. Mungo MacCallum’s books include The Good, the Bad and the Unlikely: Australia’s Prime Ministers, The Mad Marathon and The Man Who Laughs. For more than four decades, he has been one of Australia’s most influential and entertaining political journalists.
Author
Mungo Wentworth MacCallum (21 December 1941 – 9 December 2020) was an Australian political journalist and commentator. From the 1970s to the 1990s he covered Australian federal politics from the Canberra Press Gallery for The Australian, The National Times, The Sydney Morning Herald, Nation Review and radio stations 2JJ / Triple J and 2SER. He wrote political commentary for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) current affairs and news analysis program The Drum, frequently wrote for the magazine The Monthly, and contributed political commentary to Australia's national Community Radio Network, columns for the Byron Shire Echo and The Northern Star, and a weekly cryptic crossword for The Saturday Paper. He also authored several books, including Run, Johnny, Run, written after the 2004 Australian federal election. His autobiographical narrative of the Australian political scene, Mungo: the man who laughs – has been reprinted four times. How To Be A Megalomaniac or, Advice to a Young Politician was published in 2002, and Political Anecdotes was published in 2003. In December 2004, Duffy & Snellgrove published War and Pieces: John Howard's last election.
