And So it Went
Night Thoughts in a Year of Change
1st Edition
Published on 4. May 2009
568 pages
978-1-74228-541-2 (ISBN)
Description
'One of the better books on our time and the fools we have lately survived. Like War and Peace and the Iliad, it is abundant, instructive, exhilarating and cathartic.' BOB CARR
From the suicide bombing of Glasgow Airport and the flooding of England to the horse flu and the Chinese earthquake and the Bhutto assassination, from the rise of Turnbull and Rudd to the slow disintegration of Howard, Ruddock, Olmert, Blair, Musharreff, Mugabe, Costello, Nelson, Buswell and Bush, from the campaign insults of Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John McCain and Sarah Palin to the great economic meltdown and the night of Obama's audacious victory, Bob Ellis took notes, attended funerals, went to the cricket, wrote mordant midnight verse, walked his dogs and pondered on humanity's most formative interim in quite a while.
No better meditation on the Iraq war's backwash and the propaganda weapons of the Right has been thus far attempted, no wittier essay on human mortality, the planet's fate, and the melancholy harvest of Australia's most rancorous political years. And So It Went is a book to read and savour.
From the suicide bombing of Glasgow Airport and the flooding of England to the horse flu and the Chinese earthquake and the Bhutto assassination, from the rise of Turnbull and Rudd to the slow disintegration of Howard, Ruddock, Olmert, Blair, Musharreff, Mugabe, Costello, Nelson, Buswell and Bush, from the campaign insults of Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John McCain and Sarah Palin to the great economic meltdown and the night of Obama's audacious victory, Bob Ellis took notes, attended funerals, went to the cricket, wrote mordant midnight verse, walked his dogs and pondered on humanity's most formative interim in quite a while.
No better meditation on the Iraq war's backwash and the propaganda weapons of the Right has been thus far attempted, no wittier essay on human mortality, the planet's fate, and the melancholy harvest of Australia's most rancorous political years. And So It Went is a book to read and savour.
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Person
Bob Ellis (10 May 1942 - 3 April 2016) was a well-known writer, journalist, filmmaker and political commentator. He wrote books, screenplays, poetry, political speeches, and film reviews.
He had a long and close involvement with politics, covering as a journalist 25 campaigns in Australia, the UK, the US, and writing speeches for Kim Beazley, Bob Carr, Mike Rann, Nathan Rees and Kamahl. In 1994 he stood as an Independent against Bronwyn Bishop, who was then thought likely to lead the Liberal Party.
He co-wrote the classic films Newsfront, Fatty Finn, Man of Flowers and Goodbye Paradise and co-authored the musical play The Legend of King O'Malley, the television miniseries The True Believers and the Ben Chifley play A Local Man. He wrote and directed the feature films Unfinished Business and The Nostradamus Kid and wrote and appeared in the documentary Bastards from the Bush about his long friendship with Les Murray, and Run Rabbit Run, a film about Mike Rann. His film work won numerous nominations and awards for writing and direction, including three Premier's Literary Awards, three AFIs, five AWGIES and a Critics' Circle Award. He was for 40 years a contentious essayist and critic, and in 2002 was voted Columnist of the Year by the Magazine Publishers Association.
Bob wrote several novels and works of non-fiction including the best sellers The Capitalism Delusion, And So It Went, Goodbye Jerusalem, Goodbye Babylon, So It Goes, Night Thoughts in Time of War, The Season, The Hewson Tapes and Letters to the Future.
He had a long and close involvement with politics, covering as a journalist 25 campaigns in Australia, the UK, the US, and writing speeches for Kim Beazley, Bob Carr, Mike Rann, Nathan Rees and Kamahl. In 1994 he stood as an Independent against Bronwyn Bishop, who was then thought likely to lead the Liberal Party.
He co-wrote the classic films Newsfront, Fatty Finn, Man of Flowers and Goodbye Paradise and co-authored the musical play The Legend of King O'Malley, the television miniseries The True Believers and the Ben Chifley play A Local Man. He wrote and directed the feature films Unfinished Business and The Nostradamus Kid and wrote and appeared in the documentary Bastards from the Bush about his long friendship with Les Murray, and Run Rabbit Run, a film about Mike Rann. His film work won numerous nominations and awards for writing and direction, including three Premier's Literary Awards, three AFIs, five AWGIES and a Critics' Circle Award. He was for 40 years a contentious essayist and critic, and in 2002 was voted Columnist of the Year by the Magazine Publishers Association.
Bob wrote several novels and works of non-fiction including the best sellers The Capitalism Delusion, And So It Went, Goodbye Jerusalem, Goodbye Babylon, So It Goes, Night Thoughts in Time of War, The Season, The Hewson Tapes and Letters to the Future.
