Reviews
‘Books of the year, 2025‘, Australian Book Review, December 2025, no. 482
My favourite books of 2025
‘Carte blanche from me‘, Australian Book Review, November 2025, no. 481
A review of David Day’s Hawke, PM: the making of a legend
‘Okay, now down to business‘, Inside Story, 2 October 2025
A review of Adam Sisman’s The Indefatigable Asa Briggs.
‘Richard Ellmann’s extraordinary achievement’, Inside Story, 11 July 2025
A review of Zachary Leader’s Ellman’s Joyce.
‘Okay, you’re hired’, Inside Story, 5 June 2025
A review of Blake Bailey’s Cancelled Lives.
‘Denial, obfuscation, defiance’, Australian Book Review, April 2025, no. 474.
A review of What’s the big idea? edited by Anna Chang and Alice Grundy, and Age of Doubt, edited by Tracey Kirkland and Gavin Fang.
‘So far in blood‘, Sydney Review of Books, 3 March 2025
A review essay on Nicholas Jose’s The Idealist.
Making a gargoyle‘, Australian Book Review, September 2024, no. 468
A review of David Day’s Young Hawke: The making of a larrikin.
‘The poets’ war’, Inside Story, 25 July 2024
A review of Michael Korda’s Muse of Fire: World War I as seen through the lives of the soldier poets
‘Some grotesque minotaur’, Australian Book Review, May 2024, no. 464
A review of Lech Blaine’s Quarterly Essay, ‘Bad Cop: Peter Dutton’s strongman politics’
‘Grand days’, Inside Story, 26 March 2024
A review of Nicholas Shakespeare’s Ian Fleming: The Complete Man
‘The spectre: the legacies and frailties of Robert Menzies‘, Australian Book Review, March 2024, no. 462
A review of Zachary Gorman’s edited The Menzies Watershed and Anne Henderson’s Menzies v Evatt
‘The biographer’s last word‘, Inside Story, 20 November 2023
A review of Adam Sisman’s The Secret Life of John le Carré
‘Tips and tricks: the same reverence for old journalism‘, Australian Book Review, October 2023, no. 458
A review of Leigh Sales’s Storytellers: Questions, answers, and the craft of journalism
‘Buckle and strain‘, Inside Story, 14 July 2023
A review of Anna Funder’s Wifedom
‘Nasty, brutish, and banal‘, Australian Book Review, July 2023, no. 455
A review of Sally Young’s Media Monsters
(with Frank Zipfinger), ‘Class act: the man who made Australia a force in the world of bridge‘, Sydney Morning Herald and Age, 16 May 2023
An obituary of Denis Howard
‘Every day a crisis‘, Australian Book Review, July 2023, no. 454
A review of Governing through Crisis: The Morrison government, 2019–23, edited by Chris Wallace, Michelle Grattan, and Brendan McCaffrie
‘Building a golem‘, Australian Book Review, April 2023, no. 452
A review of Margaret Simons’ Tanya Plibersek: on her own terms
‘Traces of Norman Mailer‘, Inside Story, 7 March 2023
A review of Richard Bradford’s Tough Guy
‘Dual focus‘, Australian Book Review, December 2022, no. 449
A review of Paddy Manning’s The Successor: the life of Lachlan Murdoch
‘God save us all!‘, Inside Story, December 2022
An essay on Billy McMahon, Gough Whitlam, and the 1972 election
‘Vision splendid‘, Inside Story, November 2022
A review of Frank Bongiorno’s Dreamers and Schemers: a political history of Australia
(with Matthew Ricketson) ‘How to scuttle a public broadcaster’, Sydney Review of Books, 31 October 2022
A review essay on the BBC, the ABC, and David Hendy’s BBC: A People’s History and Patrick Barwise and Peter York’s The War Against the BBC
‘Warm and cuddly‘, Australian Book Review, October 2022, no. 447
A review of John Howard’s A Sense of Balance
‘Surely he wasn’t going in?’, Inside Story, 4 September 2022
A review of Ross Walker’s Harold Holt: one step further
‘All about Malcolm‘, Australian Book Review, August 2022, no. 445
A review of Aaron Patrick’s Ego: Malcolm Turnbull and the Liberal Party’s civil war
‘The man in the mirror’, Australian Book Review, April 2022, no. 441
A review of Troy Bramston’s Bob Hawke: Demons and Destiny.
‘Tall poppy-lopping’, Inside Story, 30 November 2021
A review and commentary of Doug Munro’s History Wars: the Peter Ryan-Manning Clark controversy
‘Who did he think he was?‘, Inside Story, 7 July 2021
A review of Gideon Haigh’s The Brilliant Boy: Doc Evatt and the great Australian dissent
‘Letting the repellent in’, Inside Story, 30 April 2021
A review and commentary of Blake Bailey’s Philip Roth: the Biography.
‘I’m the best of them’, Inside Story, 19 March 2021
A review of Paul Williams’ John Grey Gorton: Australian to his bootheels.
Commentary
‘No-one is taking about ABC funding in this election campaign. Here’s why they should be’, co-authored with Michael Ward, Matthew Ricketson, and Alexandra Wake, The Conversation, 28 April 2022
‘All governments loathe the ABC, but some more so than others. Here’s proof’, co-authored with Matthew Ricketson, Crikey, 6 April 2021
‘Is the latest ABC inquiry really just “business as usual”?’, co-authored with Matthew Ricketson, The Conversation, 16 November 2021
Commentary on Liberal senator Andrew Bragg’s efforts to have a Senate inquiry into the ABC’s complaints mechanisms.
‘Response to The Prosperity Gospel’, co-authored with Matthew Ricketson, Quarterly Essay, 2019
A response to Erik Jensen’s 2019 Quarterly Essay on the Morrison government’s win at the 2019 election.
‘In the land of locum PMs, be careful how you fortify them’, Sydney Morning Herald, 7 December 2018
Commentary on changes to the rules around election of Liberal Party leaders.
Patrick Mullins 