The Opera House
The Extraordinary Story of the Building That Symbolises Australia - the People, the Secrets, the Scandals and the Sheer Genius
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The Opera House
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Narrated by:
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Adrian Mulraney
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By:
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Peter FitzSimons
About this listen
'The sun did not know how beautiful its light was until it was reflected off this building.' (Louis Kahn, US architect)
If only these walls and this land could talk....
The Sydney Opera House is a breathtaking building, recognised around the world as a symbol of modern Australia. Along with the Taj Mahal and other World Heritage sites, it is celebrated for its architectural grandeur and the daring and innovation of its design. It showcases the incomparable talents involved in its conception, construction and performance history.
But this stunning house on Bennelong Point also holds many secrets and scandals. In his gripping biography, Peter FitzSimons marvels at how this magnificent building came to be, details its enthralling history and reveals the dramatic stories and hidden secrets about the people whose lives have been affected, both negatively and positively, by its presence.
He shares how a conservative 1950s state government had the incredible vision and courage to embark on this nation-defining structure; how an architect from Denmark and construction workers from Australia and abroad invented new techniques to bring it to completion; how ambition, betrayal, professional rivalry, sexual intrigue, murder, bullying and breakdowns are woven into its creation and how it is now acknowledged as one of the wonders and masterpieces of human ingenuity.
In The Opera House, Peter FitzSimons captures the extraordinary stories around this building that are as mesmerising as the light catching on its white sails.
©2022 Peter FitzSimons (P)2022 Hachette Australia Pty LtdListeners also enjoyed...
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Astounding History stories gather life
- By Gil on 11-13-14
By: Glenn Beck
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Salmon Fishing In The Yemen
- By: Paul Torday
- Narrated by: Paul Torday
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 159
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 134
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Story4 out of 5 stars 130
Author Paul Torday makes his debut with this clever absurdist novel. Fisheries scientist Dr. Alfred Jones is approached by an extravagantly wealthy sheik with a novel plan. To foster goodwill, the sheik would like to introduce salmon fishing to Yemen - the same Yemen that is largely a desert - and politicians think it's a great idea.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Distracted by the British bureaucracy/philosophy
- By Will on 08-01-12
By: Paul Torday
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People Like Us
- Margaret Thatcher and Me
- By: Caroline Slocock
- Narrated by: Antonia Beamish
- Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 26
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 22
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 22
As a young civil servant, Caroline Slocock became the first ever female private secretary to any British Prime Minister and was at Margaret Thatcher's side for the final 18 months of her premiership. A left-wing feminist, Slocock was no natural ally, and yet she became fascinated by the woman behind the Iron Lady façade and by how she dealt with a world dominated by men. As events inexorably led to Margaret Thatcher's downfall, Slocock observed the vulnerabilities and contradictions of the woman considered by many to be the ultimate anti-feminist.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Balanced Portrayal
- By Flyte13 on 05-31-19
By: Caroline Slocock
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Hitler
- The Memoir of a Nazi Insider Who Turned Against the Fuhrer
- By: Ernst Hanfstaengl
- Narrated by: Robin Sachs
- Length: 11 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 62
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 56
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 54
An intimate friend of Adolf Hitler’s who turned against him during the Nazi rise to power delves into the character of one of history’s most evil dictators. Of American and German parentage, Ernst Hanfstaengl graduated from Harvard and ran the family business in New York for a dozen years before returning to Germany in 1921. By chance he heard a then little-known Adolf Hitler speaking in a Munich beer hall and, mesmerized by his extraordinary oratorical power, was convinced the man would some day come to power. As Hitler’s fanatical theories and ideas hardened, however, he surrounded himself with rabid extremists...
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3 out of 5 stars
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Once a Nazi, always a Nazi
- By Alan on 04-10-13
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Shadows of a Princess
- By: Patrick Jephson
- Narrated by: Patrick Jephson
- Length: 19 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 66
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 58
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Story4 out of 5 stars 60
Reissued for the 20th anniversary of Diana's death, this sensational best seller is an explosive account of her life, from the man who was by her side throughout its most turbulent period. In 1981 Lady Diana Spencer was seen by many as a lifeline for the outdated Windsor line. But Diana didn't follow the script. Instead she brought a revolution. Patrick Jephson was Diana's closest aide and adviser during her years of greatest public fame and deepest personal crisis.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Honest and balanced Diana account
- By Karla Huntsman on 06-09-18
By: Patrick Jephson
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The Devil in the White City
- Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America
- By: Erik Larson
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 14 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 30,619
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 25,298
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 25,287
Two men, each handsome and unusually adept at his chosen work, embodied an element of the great dynamic that characterized America’s rush toward the twentieth century. The architect was Daniel Hudson Burnham, the fair’s brilliant director of works and the builder of many of the country’s most important structures, including the Flatiron Building in New York and Union Station in Washington, D.C. The murderer was Henry H. Holmes, a young doctor who, in a malign parody of the White City, built his “World’s Fair Hotel” just west of the fairgrounds.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A Rich Read!
- By D on 09-18-03
By: Erik Larson
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Finale
- A Novel of the Reagan Years
- By: Thomas Mallon
- Narrated by: Christopher Lane
- Length: 17 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 61
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 53
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Story4 out of 5 stars 54
From the author of the acclaimed novel Watergate comes a galvanizing new novel about the tumultuous administration of the most consequential and enigmatic president of modern times - Ronald Reagan. Finale takes listeners to the political gridiron of Washington in 1986, the wealthiest enclaves of Southern California, and the volcanic landscape of Iceland, where the president engages in two almost apocalyptic days of negotiation with Mikhail Gorbachev.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Gore Vidal for the 21st Century
- By philip on 10-31-15
By: Thomas Mallon
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Truman
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 54 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 5,279
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 4,672
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Story5 out of 5 stars 4,656
Hailed by critics as an American masterpiece, David McCullough's sweeping biography of Harry S. Truman captured the heart of the nation. The life and times of the 33rd president of the United States, Truman provides a deeply moving look at an extraordinary, singular American.
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5 out of 5 stars
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That Mousy Little Man From Missouri Revisited
- By Sara on 07-23-15
By: David McCullough
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The Great Bridge
- The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 27 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,795
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,470
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,471
This monumental book tells the enthralling story of one of the greatest accomplishments in our nation's history, the building of what was then the longest suspension bridge in the world. The Brooklyn Bridge rose out of the expansive era following the Civil War, when Americans believed all things were possible.
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5 out of 5 stars
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An Historian and not a Novelist
- By Tim on 06-01-12
By: David McCullough
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A Very English Scandal
- Sex, Lies, and a Murder Plot at the Heart of the Establishment
- By: John Preston
- Narrated by: Matthew Brenher
- Length: 12 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 205
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 184
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 182
As a member of Parliament and leader of the Liberal Party in the 1960s and 70s, Jeremy Thorpe's bad behavior went under the radar for years. Police and politicians alike colluded to protect one of their own. In 1970, Thorpe was the most popular and charismatic politician in the country, poised to hold the balance of power in a coalition government. But Jeremy Thorpe was a man with a secret.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Who knew?
- By Dorothy on 10-24-16
By: John Preston
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Young Titan
- The Making of Winston Churchill
- By: Michael Shelden
- Narrated by: John Curless
- Length: 14 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 60
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 52
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 53
In modern memory, Winston Churchill remains the man with the cigar and the equanimity among the ruins. Few can remember that at the age of 40 he was considered washed up, his best days behind him. In Young Titan, historian Michael Shelden has produced the first biography focused on Churchill’s early career, the years between 1901 and 1915 that both nearly undid him but also forged the character that would later triumph in the Second World War.
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2 out of 5 stars
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sorry
- By Kemper 16 on 11-14-24
By: Michael Shelden
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Mark Twain: Man in White
- The Grand Adventure of His Final Years
- By: Michael Shelden
- Narrated by: Andrew Garman
- Length: 17 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 92
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 67
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 68
Pulitzer Prize finalist Michael Shelden illuminates Mark Twain’s twilight years in this brilliant account of the legendary author’s life. Drawing heavily on Twain’s own letters and journals, Mark Twain: Man in White recounts both Twain’s private family experiences and his larger-than-life public image.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Fantastic book
- By Tad Davis on 08-23-10
By: Michael Shelden
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109 East Palace
- Robert Oppenheimer and the Secret City of Los Alamos
- By: Jennet Conant
- Narrated by: Anne Twomey
- Length: 5 hrs and 57 mins
- Abridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 289
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 197
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 196
They were told as little as possible. Their orders were to go to Santa Fe, New Mexico, and report for work at a classified Manhattan Project site, a location so covert it was known to them only by the mysterious address: 109 East Palace.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Great Listen
- By John H. Davis III on 10-22-05
By: Jennet Conant
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The City of Falling Angels
- By: John Berendt
- Narrated by: Holter Graham
- Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 563
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 267
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Story4 out of 5 stars 265
The author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil returns to give us an intimate look at the "magic, mystery, and decadence" of the city of Venice and its inhabitants.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Do Yourself a Favor and Skip This Book!
- By AUDIBLE on 10-08-05
By: John Berendt
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You Say to Brick
- The Life of Louis Kahn
- By: Wendy Lesser
- Narrated by: Will Damron
- Length: 15 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 57
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 53
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 53
Born to a Jewish family in Estonia in 1901 and brought to America in 1906, the architect Louis Kahn grew up in poverty in Philadelphia; by the time of his death in 1974, he was widely recognized as one of the greatest architects of his era. Yet this enormous reputation was based on only a handful of masterpieces, all built during the last 15 years of his life.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A book about architect needs pictures
- By Kristin Olson-garewal on 10-15-17
By: Wendy Lesser
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The Hercules Text
- By: Jack McDevitt
- Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins
- Length: 13 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 92
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 85
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Story4 out of 5 stars 84
From a remote corner of the galaxy, a message is being sent. The continuous beats of a pulsar have become odd, irregular, and artificial. It can only be a code. Frantically, a research team struggles to decipher the alien communication. And what the scientists discover is destined to shake the foundations of empires around this world - from Wall Street to the Vatican.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Lots to recommend here!
- By Matthew on 10-19-18
By: Jack McDevitt
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Good Day!
- The Paul Harvey Story
- By: Paul J. Batura
- Narrated by: Paul J. Batura
- Length: 6 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 234
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 189
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 188
In Good Day!: The Paul Harvey Story, author Paul J. Batura follows the remarkable life of one of the founding fathers of the news media. Paul Harvey started his career during the Great Depression and narrated America's story day by day, through wars and peace, the threat of communism and the crumbling of old colonial powers, consumer booms and eventual busts.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Should have been better
- By Royce Brown on 12-21-09
By: Paul J. Batura
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What listeners say about The Opera House
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Joseph
- 08-12-22
An amazing story well told!
This is a fascinating story of creativity, talent, politics, egos, and a magnificent building. Peter FitzSimons tells the story in a compelling way; filled with drama and humour. Adrian Mulraney is an excellent narrator, bringing Aussie attitudes to life.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- janet arnds
- 06-11-23
I need a return visit to Sydney
Great book I listened to several chapters twice
Having toured the opera house in 2012 the book brought back, good memories. Would like to return now that I understand the true architectural and engineering achievement
Great book great story
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Ellen
- 10-19-22
Fascinating &Complex History of a Masterpiece
This book was particularly interesting to me because I had the incredible privilege to sing Benjamin Britten's War Requiem at the Sydney Opera House in an international music festival in 1993. Although the building fascinated me, I had no idea how complicated it's genesis was. While this book is quite long and there were many people involved in the project, I thought the author did a good job of making the saga comprehendable. He also captured Australian character and values in an entertaining manner. For me, this book was worth the time invested.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- McIntyre
- 06-27-22
Excellent read from a truly great historian
Another triumph from Peter Fitzsimmons. Really well told and as usual thoroughly researched. An exposé of the politics of pettiness by the Askin government and the narcissistic Minister Hughes.
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