THE MAKING OF JULIA GILLARD

'She's got everything going for her: she's tough, she's smart, she's funny and she works bloody hard' - Nicola Roxon, Minister for Health Julia Gillard is an exceptional Australian political figure. The first woman to be deputy prime minister - and tipped by many to get the top job in the future - she is admired on both sides of politics as well as by the public. 'Julia Gillard is not about policy . . . her aim is the celebrity that brings public approval' - Michael Costello, The Australian She is not loved by everybody. Her career has been marked by pitched battles with jealous rivals and powerful factions. To conservatives she is still 'red Julia'; to some on the Left she is still a politician too willing to compromise. She is widely perceived to be ambitious, and yet does she want to be prime minister? 'I am proof that a woman can thrive in an adversarial environment' - Julia Gillard The Making of Julia Gillard tells Gillard's remarkable story, including her Adelaide childhood, her time as a fiery student activist, her battles to get into Parliament and her relationships with the important men in her political life: Simon Crean, Kim Beazley, Mark Latham and Kevin Rudd. In this immensely readable book, acclaimed biographer Jacqueline Kent draws on interviews with Gillard's friends and foes - and with Gillard herself - to reveal just how adversarial her environment has been and how she has thrived.