Don Watson - Recollections of a Bleeding Heart: A Portrait of Paul Keating PM

This book, Watson's memoirs of his time as Keating's speechwriter, has been praised to the skies, and I can see why, for it's a book to make the reader believe - above all else, to believe in the possibility of government (and a progressive government especially) as an effective force for social good, in the ideal of policy rather than politics, in social justice and 'left' principles wedded to hard-headed economic management and fiscal responsibility. I started reading this before seeing Keating!, and like the musical it's made me think 'if only -'; and it's taken me a bit like The West Wing, in that it makes me wonder 'what if?'. Full of insight and interest, and written in a style which is a model of clarity.