Our Exceptional Friend: Australia's Fatal Alliance with the United States

(Paperback)

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InOur Exceptional Friend, Emma Shortis draws on history, current affairs and questions of morality to mount a compelling and unique case as to why Australia's relationship with the United States needs a serious overhaul.

Australians are told that we have two choices in this world: the United States, or China. Faced with that choice, Australian governments of all persuasions have always sided with America even if that means siding with a President like Donald J. Trump. While the election of Joe Biden has led many of us to hope that we might be heading for a calmer, more compassionate world, and a reset of Australia and Americas special relationship, going back to normal is not only a bad idea it's a dangerous and immoral one.

Our Exceptional Friend challenges the old assumption that we have no option other than to submit to one global power at the expense of another, and asks Australians to really examine why it is that we welcome American dominance. In this, our 70th year of the AustraliaUS alliance, historian Emma Shortis argues it's time to take a fresh and unflinching look at our special relationship, and examine whose interests it really serves. We dont have to make a binary choice between subservience to an increasingly broken democracy and abandoning the alliance. There are other options.How can we make it better for us, and make the world a better place for it

Reviews

If you care about global warming, economic crises or war with China, you need this book! Jeff Sparrow, writer, broadcaster and journalist

A bold and brilliant study of the AustralianAmerican relationship. Marilyn Lake, Professorial Fellow in History, University of Melbourne

Brave and necessary a timely, succinct intervention into a stale consensus. Richard Cooke, author and editor

Author Bio

Dr Emma Shortis is a nationally recognised expert in the history and politics of the United States. Emma uses her expertise in history to interpret and explain what on earth is happening in America today, and what it means for Australia, in a compassionate and accessible way. Emma is a regular guest on ABC radio and television, such as The Drum, Today and ABC podcasts Russia, If Youre Listening and The Signal. Emma also co-hosts RMITs popular history podcast, Barely Gettin By, with her friend Dr Chloe Ward. She writes regularly for mainstream media including ABC News Online and the Sydney Morning Herald. Before joining RMIT, Emma spent a year in the United States as the Fox-Zucker International Fellow at Yale University, where she finished writing her PhD in History. In 2020, she was named RMITs Media Commentator of the year.