2007 was a year to remember in Australian politics. It saw the dramatic fall of John Howard and the unexpected rise of Kevin Rudd. It saw the Liberal Party buckle under the inertia of incumbency and the Labor Party find new discipline and energy. It also saw the union movement at the center of one of the most effective and powerful political campaign the country has ever seen. With unprecedented access to the key players and countless hours of confidential interviews, Peter Hartcher reveals how Kevin Rudd secretly forged his alliance with Julia Gillard to topple Kim Beazley. He exposes the way Labor's factions intimidated Rudd. He lays bare the raging, unending struggle between John Howard and Peter Costello for control of the national budget. And he explains why Peter Costello believes Howard's defeat was the greatest humiliation of any prime minister in Australia's history. To the Bitter End is a penetrating, riveting, and above all revealing exploration of a year when the political stakes had never been higher.