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4.0
‘This is an account of one person’s efforts, …’
In this political memoir, organised broadly chronological by particular policy themes, Gareth Evans reflects on his efforts during a long public life to try to encourage both Australia and the world ‘in better policy directions’. For those of us interested in Australian public policy, it is a memoir worth reading. It is interesting and informative as well and, at times, amusing. It is both wordy and well-written. Gareth Evans could never be accused of being a man of too few words.
‘My family being neither criminal nor rich, I grew up with practically no exposure whatever to the legal profession.’
For those too young to remember the Hawke-Keating governments (11 March 1983 to 11 March 1996), Gareth Evans served as Attorney-General (1983-84), Minister for Resources and Energy (1984-1987), Minister for Transport and Communications (1987-1988) and Foreign Minister (1988-1996). He was a Senator for Victoria from 1978 to 1996 and then the Member for Holt from 1996 to 1998. Since leaving the Australian Parliament, Gareth Evans has served as the President and CEO of the Brussels-based International Crisis Group from 2000 to 2009, and has been Chancellor of the Australian National University since 2010.
In this memoir, Gareth Evans covers ten themes under the headings of: Justice, Race, Enterprise, Diplomacy, Cooperation, Conflict, Atrocities, Weapons, Education and Politics. For each of these themes, he sets himself three goals: how he became involved with each, how he pursued each subject (covering both his successes and failures), and the lessons learned.
Is it incorrigible optimism to have a vision of effective international citizenship at a time when many countries are pursuing isolationist policies? At a time when reports of atrocities have tragically become commonplace? Perhaps it is, but ideals are important and need to be articulated so that they can be strived for. I was particularly interested in reading about the work of the International Crisis Group, and also in Gareth Evans’s experiences as a backpacker in Africa and Europe during the 1960s.
I found this memoir absorbing and thought-provoking.
Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Melbourne University Publishing for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
In this political memoir, organised broadly chronological by particular policy themes, Gareth Evans reflects on his efforts during a long public life to try to encourage both Australia and the world ‘in better policy directions’. For those of us interested in Australian public policy, it is a memoir worth reading. It is interesting and informative as well and, at times, amusing. It is both wordy and well-written. Gareth Evans could never be accused of being a man of too few words.
‘My family being neither criminal nor rich, I grew up with practically no exposure whatever to the legal profession.’
For those too young to remember the Hawke-Keating governments (11 March 1983 to 11 March 1996), Gareth Evans served as Attorney-General (1983-84), Minister for Resources and Energy (1984-1987), Minister for Transport and Communications (1987-1988) and Foreign Minister (1988-1996). He was a Senator for Victoria from 1978 to 1996 and then the Member for Holt from 1996 to 1998. Since leaving the Australian Parliament, Gareth Evans has served as the President and CEO of the Brussels-based International Crisis Group from 2000 to 2009, and has been Chancellor of the Australian National University since 2010.
In this memoir, Gareth Evans covers ten themes under the headings of: Justice, Race, Enterprise, Diplomacy, Cooperation, Conflict, Atrocities, Weapons, Education and Politics. For each of these themes, he sets himself three goals: how he became involved with each, how he pursued each subject (covering both his successes and failures), and the lessons learned.
Is it incorrigible optimism to have a vision of effective international citizenship at a time when many countries are pursuing isolationist policies? At a time when reports of atrocities have tragically become commonplace? Perhaps it is, but ideals are important and need to be articulated so that they can be strived for. I was particularly interested in reading about the work of the International Crisis Group, and also in Gareth Evans’s experiences as a backpacker in Africa and Europe during the 1960s.
I found this memoir absorbing and thought-provoking.
Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Melbourne University Publishing for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
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