Despite the importance and pervasiveness of the American-Australian alliance there have been few books written on it- those that have been written are concerned purely with an historical treatment of the relationship and those which attempt to deal with the current implications are by now very out of date. This book combines an historical ‘setting’ of the alliance as it stands at the moment as well as a coverage of the implications it has for the future. It draws particular attention to the highly dependent relationship that Australia has developed vis-a-vis the United States, reminiscent in many respects of the prior relationship with Britain.