I was prime minister for three years and three days. Three years and three days of resilience. Three years and three days of changing the nation. Three years and three days for you to judge.

On Wednesday, June 23, 2010, with the government in turmoil, Julia Gillard asked Prime Minister Kevin Rudd for a leadership ballot. The next day, Julia Gillard became Australia's 27th prime minister, and their first female leader. Australia was alive to the historic possibilities. Here was a new approach for a new time. It was to last three extraordinary years. This is Julia Gillard's chronicle of that turbulent time, a strikingly candid self-portrait of a political leader seeking to realize her ideals. It is her story of what it was like--in the face of government in-fighting and often hostile media--to manage a hung parliament, build a diverse and robust economy, create an equitable and world-class education system, ensure a dignified future for Australians with disabilities, all while attending to our international obligations and building strategic alliances for our future. This is a politician driven by a sense of purpose--from campus days with the Australian Union of Students, to a career in the law, to her often gritty, occasionally glittering rise up the ranks of the Australian Labor Party. Refreshingly honest, peppered with a wry humor and personal insights, Julia Gillard does not shy away from her mistakes, admitting freely to errors, misjudgements, and policy failures as well as detailing her political successes. Here is an account of what was hidden behind the resilience and dignified courage Gillard showed as prime minister, her view of the vicious hate campaigns directed against her, and a reflection on what it means--and what it takes--to be a woman leader in contemporary politics. Here, in her own words, Julia Gillard reveals what life was really like as Australia's first female prime minister.
About the Author: Julia Gillard was sworn in as the 27th Prime Minister of Australia in 2010 and served in that office until June 2013. Previously, she served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Education, Employment and Workplace Relations and Social Inclusion. Gillard delivered nation-changing policies including reforming Australian education at every level from early childhood to university education, creating an emissions trading scheme, improving the provision and sustainability of health care, aged care and dental care, commencing the nation's first ever national scheme to care for people with disabilities, and restructuring the telecommunications sector as well as building a national broadband network. In foreign policy, Gillard strengthened Australia's alliance with the United States, secured stronger architecture for the relationship with China, upgraded Australia's ties with India, and deepened ties with Japan, Indonesia and South Korea. Under Gillard's leadership, Australia was elected to the United Nations Security Council. She developed Australia's guiding policy paper, Australia in the Asian Century. After departing politics, Ms Gillard has accepted roles as honorary professor of politics at University of Adelaide and distinguished fellow with the Brookings Institution Centre for Universal Education in Washington.