Authors: David Malouf, Guy Rundle, Mungo MacCallum, Tim Flannery

Each Quarterly Essay in this collection is by a celebrated Australian writer, and each offers an intriguing angle on the Australian story. There is David Malouf's elegant account of the British inheritance, and Mungo MacCallum's devastating chronicling of the refugee crisis and Australian history. There is Tim Flannery's provocative overview of our history as seen through an environmental lens, and Guy Rundle's characterisation of John Howard and his vision of Australia. This is a book that gathers in one place some of the finest Australian non-fiction writing of recent years.

"For us the end of colonialism can never be 'declared' as it was for the Indians at a single stroke, because we were never a colony as India was. Made in England and exported like so much else, we are a bit of the motherland set down in a new place and left to develop ..."
David Malouf, Made in England

"There is a new Australian settlement to be made, and it is yet to be made ... we are the republic of possibility, the place where anything can happen, where everything is up for grabs."
Guy Rundle, The Opportunist

"The first boat people to arrive in Australia seeking permanent residence probably did so some 40,000 years ago; we say probably because some authorities believe that the Aborigines walked across a land bridge from the Indonesian peninsula."
Mungo Maccallum, Girt By Sea

"What then of the real and fundamental issues - land, water, air and biodiversity conservation? It is in this realm that our future will be decided. And I have no hesitation in saying that we must approach these issues on a war footing, for we are in a struggle to the death with the threats which are posed to our well-being as a nation."
Tim Flannery, Beautiful Lies