The Real John Wren
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Yellowed
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
Behind the legend of one of Australia's most controversial and enigmatic figures lies a story far more compelling than fiction — The Real John Wren by Hugh Buggy strips away the myth to present the man himself: John Wren, the Melbourne-born working-class entrepreneur who rose from the Collingwood slums to become a powerful political operator, gambling kingpin, and philanthropist whose influence stretched across the social and political fabric of early twentieth-century Australia. Buggy, a seasoned Australian journalist who knew Wren personally, chronicles the tycoon's remarkable ascent through a society riddled with class tension, religious loyalty, and backroom deals, painting a portrait that is by turns admiring and unflinching. The biography stands as a direct counter-narrative to Frank Hardy's fictionalised — and deeply unflattering — portrayal in Power Without Glory, restoring nuance and complexity to a figure too often reduced to caricature. Written with the authority of first-hand knowledge and the precision of a veteran reporter, Buggy's account illuminates the contradictions of a man who was simultaneously feared and revered, a devout Catholic and a gambling baron, a populist hero and a shadowy power broker. For anyone seeking to understand the true anatomy of Australian power in the industrial age, this portrait of Wren raises as many questions as it answers.
Author: Hugh Buggy
Format: Paperback
Genre: Biography
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Yellowed
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
Behind the legend of one of Australia's most controversial and enigmatic figures lies a story far more compelling than fiction — The Real John Wren by Hugh Buggy strips away the myth to present the man himself: John Wren, the Melbourne-born working-class entrepreneur who rose from the Collingwood slums to become a powerful political operator, gambling kingpin, and philanthropist whose influence stretched across the social and political fabric of early twentieth-century Australia. Buggy, a seasoned Australian journalist who knew Wren personally, chronicles the tycoon's remarkable ascent through a society riddled with class tension, religious loyalty, and backroom deals, painting a portrait that is by turns admiring and unflinching. The biography stands as a direct counter-narrative to Frank Hardy's fictionalised — and deeply unflattering — portrayal in Power Without Glory, restoring nuance and complexity to a figure too often reduced to caricature. Written with the authority of first-hand knowledge and the precision of a veteran reporter, Buggy's account illuminates the contradictions of a man who was simultaneously feared and revered, a devout Catholic and a gambling baron, a populist hero and a shadowy power broker. For anyone seeking to understand the true anatomy of Australian power in the industrial age, this portrait of Wren raises as many questions as it answers.