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Kerry Stokes: The Boy from Nowhere

Kerry Stokes: The Boy from Nowhere 3

by Andrew Rule
Hardback
Publication Date: 01/11/2014
5/5 Rating 3 Reviews

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The compelling and inspirational story of the rags to riches life of Kerry Stokes, a remarkable Australian. Kerry Stokes is a remarkable Australian. Not because he is one of Australia's wealthiest and most powerful people, but because of what he overcame to get there and because he has endured when others didn't. His success and his rise have intrigued the business world for decades but there is so much more to him than multi-million dollar deals or mergers. Behind the laconic front is a human story as tough and touching as a Dickens tale: Oliver Twist with great self-expectations. It is the story of a poor boy who stared down poverty, ignorance and the stigma of his illegitimate birth to achieve great wealth and fulfilment. He's a backstreets battler who has become a power player. It's a compelling and inspiring story that, until now, he has not told. Now he oversees a multi-billion dollar media, machinery and property empire. He is renowned for his art collection and for philanthropy, spending millions of dollars to buy - among other things - Victoria Crosses from soldiers' families to donate to the Australian War Memorial. But he's a private man. A man apart. He made his name in the West but kept his distance from the buccaneering band of entrepreneurs who forged fabulous fortunes in Perth from the 1960s until the 1987 crash. Bond went to jail, Holmes a Court died; Connell did both. Lesser lights flickered and faded but Stokes grew stronger, becoming a player alongside Murdoch, Packer and Lowy. His story fascinates all the more because he has spent most of his life guarding it. But now he's telling it, to one of Australia's great storytellers. He is the boy who came from nothing, who had nothing to lose. And now he has everything. It's a great Australian journey.
ISBN:
9780732295981
9780732295981
Category:
Biography: business & industry
Format:
Hardback
Publication Date:
01-11-2014
Publisher:
HarperCollins Publishers
Pages:
528
Dimensions (mm):
241x165x43mm
Weight:
0.91kg
Andrew Rule

Multi-award-winning journalist Andrew Rule has covered some of the most notorious Australian stories of recent decades. Rule has written, edited or published more than 30 true crime books - including the best-selling Underbelly series with John 'Sly' Silvester.

He wrote the definitive biography of businessman Kerry Stokes, published in 2015, and the award-winning biography of the world champion racehorse Winx in 2018. He is now an associate editor of Australia's biggest daily, the Herald Sun, for which he writes features and columns.

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3 Reviews

A fantastic yarn and insight into one of Australia's greatest businessman. A great read!

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The Boy from Nowhere is an excellent biography and a good reflection of what life was like growing up in an impoverished family in Carlton and attending St. Georges primary school. I was a refugee and a migrant who left Hungary in 1956. I commenced at St .Georges or at The Sacred Heart Carlton in Grade one in 1958 and went through to complete grade six.
I found St. Georges to be very strong on discipline or put another way, big on corporal punishment. Many of the things that happened to Kerry Stokes happened similarly to me and many others. There is no doubt that the school left many of the pupils who attended in some ways scarred. There are others, however, who I meet at school reunions, who were not at all affected by it. As there was not much going for me at the time, I found the quality of the teachers to be excellent. The education that I received from the Christian Brothers at St. Georges, I believe was second to none. The Christian Brothers who taught Kerry Stokes had all moved on by the time that I would have been in the classes that they taught.
Andrew Rule, kept referring back to St. Georges as the low point in Kerry Stokes’s life throughout the book. It may have been, but it may have been a lot worse if he had attended the State school next door. In spite of this, Kerry grew up to be a wonderful successful person with a heart of gold. The book is a great read. As a St. Georges boy, I am very proud that he succeeded.
John Garamszegi

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An inspiring and mesmerising story. A true page turner. Highly recommended!

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