By David Marr
PB $14.95

John Howard has the loudest voice in Australia. He has cowed his critics, muffled the press, intimidated the ABC, gagged scientists, silenced NGOs, censored the arts, prosecuted leakers, criminalised protest and curtailed parliamentary scrutiny. Though touted as a contest of values, this has been a party-political assault on Australia’s liberal culture. In the name of “balance” the Liberal Party has muscled its way into the intellectual life of the country. And this has happened because we let it happen. In His Master’s Voice, David Marr investigates both a decade of suppression and the strange willingness of Australians to watch their liberties drift away. http://www.blackincbooks.com/