Barack Obama, JFK and … Josh Frydenberg: what can a memoir do for an ambitious politician?

The former treasurer’s new book will hit shelves soon, but he may learn that memoirs can be blunt instruments for political renewal. Just ask Peter Costello Former treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s new memoir, marketed as a coming-of-age story, family history and pandemic retrospective rolled into one, is due to hit shelves soon. Publisher HarperCollins Australia promises it will be a reflection “on what political power can and cannot achieve, on the cost of public life in an increasingly divided world, and on the unique promise and potential of Australia.” The press release promises an account of how Australia achieved “one of the strongest economic and health recoveries in the world” in the wake of the pandemic and a rumination on Frydenberg’s many ways to lead: “in his inspiring advocacy against antisemitism and hate in the aftermath of Australia’s deadliest domestic terrorist attack at Bondi, he found the words many were searching for.”