100 years

Based on the forthcoming 5-part television series 100 Years: The Australian Story, this is an exploration of who we are as a nation, where we have come from and where we are going, by one of Australia's most respected political and economic commentators.There have always been competing views of Australia. It has been seen as a land of despair and of hope, a place of indifference and of aspiration, an accident in which Europeans were stranded on the wrong side of earth and a civilisation with the genius to renew itself.Leading political analyst and author Paul Kelly uses the centenary of Federation to dissect our nation's character. Kelly traces the past century through the ideas that shaped Australian politics in the 1990s - an independent republic, a multicultural identity, economic egalitarianism, the quest for Aboriginal reconciliation and Australia's negotiation of its own way in Asia and the world.Kelly's story is about change and continuity. It captures the struggles of the nation's key leaders, from Barton, Deakin and Hughes to Menzies, Whitlam and Keating. Extracts from some remarkably frank interviews with current leaders and former prime ministers shed fresh light on Australia's recent history. This is a story of nation building, our path to independence, the world wars, the Depression, immigration, land rights, bank nationalisation, the Japan threat, the remaking of the economy and our engagement with Asia.Based upon Kelly's television series for the ABC of the same name, 100 Years is a fascinating exploration of who we are as a nation, where we have come from and where we are going.Paul Kelly is Australia's pre-eminent political commentator. He has been chief political writer for The Australian, the Sydney Morning Herald and the National Times. He served as editor-in-chief of The Australian, where he is currently the International Editor. His books include The Hawke Ascendancy, November 1975 and The End of Certainty.