Michelle is professor of history at Macquarie University. Her first book, Upstaged: Australian Women Playwrights in the Limelight at Last, (Currency, 2002) and was shortlisted for five national prizes in 2003. Michelle was a presenter on the ABC TV history series Rewind in 2004. Her second book, Friday on Our Minds: Popular Culture in Australia since 1945 (UNSW Press 2009) was shortlisted for the NSW Premier's Australian History Prize. She won an ALTC citation for her teaching in 2010. Michelle served on the advisory panel of the Prime Minister's Prize for Australian History between 2009-12. She has published numerous book chapters and articles on topics ranging from the Lindy Chamberlain case, the history of the women's movement, Helen Reddy's feminist anthem I Am Woman, reality history TV, Australian popular culture, and the representation of history on television. She has held research fellowships at the National Archives of Australia and the National Library of Australia. Her most recent book, The Seventies: The Personal, The Political and the Making of Modern Australia (NewSouth 2019) won the 2020 Ernest Scott Prize for History.