Quarterly Essay Books in Order
92
Books
2001
First Book
2025
Latest Book
25
Years
Below you'll find the complete list of Quarterly Essay books in publication order. This is generally the recommended reading order for the series.
Reading order verified: January 2026
Publication Order
1
Quarterly Essay 1 In Denial: The Stolen Generations and the Right (By: Robert Manne)
Buy on Amazon2001
2
Appeasing Jakarta: Australia's Complicity in the East Timor Tragedy
Buy on Amazon2001
3
Quarterly Essay 3 The Opportunist: John Howard and the Triumph of Reaction (By: Guy Rundle)
Buy on Amazon2001
4
Rabbit Syndrome: Australia and America (By: Don Watson)
Buy on Amazon2001
5
Beyond Belief: What Future for Labor? (By: John Button)
Buy on Amazon2002
6
Quarterly Essay 5 Girt By Sea: Australia, the Refugees and the Politics of Fear (By: Mungo MacCallum)
Buy on Amazon2002
7
Paradise Betrayed: West Papua's Struggle for Independence (By: John Martinkus)
Buy on Amazon2002
8
Groundswell: The Rise of the Greens (By: Amanda Lohrey)
Buy on Amazon2002
9
Beautiful Lies: Population and Environment In Australia (By: Tim Flannery)
Buy on Amazon2003
10
Bad Company: The Cult of the CEO (By: Gideon Haigh)
Buy on Amazon2003
11
Whitefella Jump Up: The Shortest Way To Nationhood (By: Germaine Greer)
Buy on Amazon2003
12
Made in England:Australia's British Inheritance (By: David Malouf)
Buy on Amazon2003
13
Sending Them Home: Refugees and the New Politics of Indifference; Quarterly Essay 13 (By: Robert Manne,David Corlett)
Buy on Amazon2004
14
Mission Impossible: The Sheikhs, the U.S. and the Future of Iraq (By: Paul McGeough)
Buy on Amazon2004
15
Quarterly Essay 16 Breach of Trust: Truth, Morality and Politics (By: Raimond Gaita)
Buy on Amazon2004
16
(By: John Hirst)
Buy on Amazon2005
17
The Worried Well: The Depression Epidemic and the Medicalisation of Our Sorrows (By: Gail Bell)
Buy on Amazon2005
18
Quarterly Essay 19 Relaxed and Comfortable: The Liberal Party's Australia (By: Judith Brett)
Buy on Amazon2005
19
Quarterly Essay 20 A Time for War
Buy on Amazon2005
20
What's Left?: The Death of Social Democracy (By: Clive Hamilton)
Buy on Amazon2006
21
Quarterly Essay 22 Voting for Jesus: Christianity and Politics in Australia (By: Amanda Lohrey)
Buy on Amazon2006
22
The History Question: Who Owns the Past?; Quarterly Essay 23 (By: Inga Clendinnen)
Buy on Amazon2006
23
His Master's Voice: The Corruption of Public Debate Under Howard (By: David Marr)
Buy on Amazon2007
24
Bipolar Nation: How To Win the 2007 Election; Quarterly Essay 25 (By: Peter Hartcher)
Buy on Amazon2007
25
Reaction Time: Climate Change and the Nuclear Option (By: Ian Lowe)
Buy on Amazon2007
26
Exit Right: The Unravelling of John Howard (By: Ian Lowe)
Buy on Amazon2007
27
Love & Money: The Family and the Free Market (By: Anne Manne)
Buy on Amazon2008
28
Quarterly Essay 30 Last Drinks: The Impact of the Northern Territory Intervention (By: Paul Toohey)
Buy on Amazon2008
29
American Revolution: The Fall of Wall Street and the Rise of Barack Obama (By: Kate Jennings)
Buy on Amazon2008
30
Now or Never: A Sustainable Future for Australia? (By: Tim Flannery)
Buy on Amazon2008
31
Quarry Vision: Coal, Climate Change and the End of the Resources Boom; Quarterly Essay 33 (By: Guy Pearse)
Buy on Amazon2009
32
Quarterly Essay 35 Radical Hope: Education and Equality for Australia (By: Noel Pearson)
Buy on Amazon2009
33
Australian Story: Kevin Rudd and the Lucky Country (By: Mungo MacCallum)
Buy on Amazon2009
34
Quarterly Essay 37 What's Right?: The Future of Conservatism in Australia (By: Waleed Aly)
Buy on Amazon2010
35
Power Trip: The Political Journey of Kevin Rudd (By: David Marr)
Buy on Amazon2010
36
Quarterly Essay 39 Power Shift: Australia's Future between Washington and Beijing (By: HughWhite)
Buy on Amazon2010
37
Trivial Pursuit: Leadership and the End of the Reform Era; Quarterly Essay 40 (By: George Megalogenis)
Buy on Amazon2010
38
Quarterly Essay 41 The Happy Life: The Search for Contentment in the Modern World (By: David Malouf)
Buy on Amazon2011
39
Quarterly Essay 42 Fair Share: Country and City in Australia (By: Judith Brett)
Buy on Amazon2011
40
Bad News: Murdoch's (By: Robert Manne)
Buy on Amazon2011
41
Quarterly Essay 44 Man-Made World: Choosing Between Progress and Planet (By: Andrew Charlton)
Buy on Amazon2011
42
Quarterly Essay 45 Us and Them: On the Importance of Animals (By: Anna Krien)
Buy on Amazon2012
43
After The Future: Australia's New Extinction Crisis (By: Tim Flannery)
Buy on Amazon2012
44
Quarterly Essay 49 Not Dead Yet: Labor's Post-Left Future (By: Mark Latham)
Buy on Amazon2013
45
Quarterly Essay 50 Unfinished Business: Sex, Freedom and Misogyny (By: Anna Goldsworthy)
Buy on Amazon2013
46
Quarterly Essay 46 Great Expectations: Government, Entitlement and an Angry Nation (By: Laura Tingle)
Buy on Amazon2013
47
The Prince: Faith, Abuse and George Pell (By: David Marr)
Buy on Amazon2013
48
Quarterly Essay 53 That Sinking Feeling: Asylum Seekers and the Search for the Indonesian Solution (By: Paul Toohey)
Buy on Amazon2014
49
Dragon's Tail: The Lucky Country after the China Boom (By: Andrew Charlton)
Buy on Amazon2014
50
Quarterly Essay 55 A Rightful Place: Race, Recognition and a More Complete Commonwealth (By: Noel Pearson)
Buy on Amazon2014
51
Clivosaurus: The Politics of Clive Palmer (By: Guy Rundle)
Buy on Amazon2014
52
Quarterly Essay 57 Dear Life: On Caring for the Elderly (By: Karen Hitchcock)
Buy on Amazon2015
53
Blood Year: Terror and the Islamic State (By: David Kilcullen)
Buy on Amazon2015
54
Faction Man: Bill Shorten's Path to Power (By: David Marr)
Buy on Amazon2015
55
Political Amnesia: How We Forgot How to Govern (By: Laura Tingle)
Buy on Amazon2015
56
Balancing Act: Australia Between Recession and Renewal (By: George Megalogenis)
Buy on Amazon2016
57
Stop at Nothing: The Life and Adventures of Malcolm Turnbull (By: Annabel Crabb)
Buy on Amazon2016
58
Firing Line: Australia's Path to War (By: James Brown)
Buy on Amazon2016
59
Quarterly Essay 63 Enemy Within: American Politics in the Time of Trump (By: Don Watson)
Buy on Amazon2016
60
The Australian Dream: Blood, History and Becoming (By: Stan Grant)
Buy on Amazon2016
61
The White Queen: One Nation and the Politics of Race (By: David Marr)
Buy on Amazon2017
62
The Long Goodbye: Coal, Coral and Australia's Climate Deadlock (By: Anna Krien)
Buy on Amazon2017
63
Moral Panic 101: Equality, Acceptance and the Safe Schools Scandal (By: Benjamin Law)
Buy on Amazon2017
64
Without America: Australia in the New Asia (By: HughWhite)
Buy on Amazon2017
65
Moment of Truth: History and Australia's Future (By: Mark McKenna)
Buy on Amazon2018
66
Dead Right: How Neoliberalism Ate Itself and What Comes Next (By: Richard Denniss)
Buy on Amazon2018
67
Follow the Leader: Democracy and the Rise of the Strongman (By: Laura Tingle)
Buy on Amazon2018
68
Net Loss: The Inner Life in the Digital Age (By: Sebastian Smee)
Buy on Amazon2018
69
Quarterly Essay 73 Australia Fair: Listening to the Nation (By: Rebecca Huntley)
Buy on Amazon2019
70
The Prosperity Gospel: How Scott Morrison won and Bill Shorten lost (By: Erik Jensen)
Buy on Amazon2019
71
Quarterly Essay 75 Men at Work: Australia's Parenthood Trap (By: Annabel Crabb)
Buy on Amazon2019
72
Red Flag: Waking Up to China's Challenge (By: Peter Hartcher)
Buy on Amazon2019
73
Cry Me a River: The Tragedy of the Murray-Darling Basin; Quarterly Essay 77 (By: Margaret Simons)
Buy on Amazon2020
74
The Coal Curse: Resources, Climate and Australia's Future (By: Judith Brett)
Buy on Amazon2020
75
The End of Certainty: Scott Morrison and Pandemic Politics (By: Katharine Murphy)
Buy on Amazon2020
76
The High Road: What Australia can learn from New Zealand (By: Laura Tingle)
Buy on Amazon2020
77
Exit Strategy: Politics After the Pandemic (By: George Megalogenis)
Buy on Amazon2021
78
Top Blokes: The Larrikin Myth, Class and Power (By: Lech Blaine)
Buy on Amazon2021
79
The Reckoning: How #MeToo is Changing Australia (By: Jess Hill)
Buy on Amazon2021
80
Not Waving, Drowning: Mental Illness and Vulnerability in Australia (By: Sarah Krasnostein)
Buy on Amazon2022
81
Sleepwalk to War: Australia’s Unthinking Alliance with America (By: HughWhite)
Buy on Amazon2022
82
Uncivil Wars: How Contempt Is Corroding Democracy (By: Waleed Aly,ScottStephens)
Buy on Amazon2022
83
Lone Wolf: Albanese and the New Politics (By: Katharine Murphy)
Buy on Amazon2022
84
Quarterly Essay 89 The Wires That Bind: Electrification and Community Renewal (By: Saul Griffith)
Buy on Amazon2023
85
Voice of Reason: On Recognition and Renewal (By: MeganDavis)
Buy on Amazon2023
86
Lifeboat: Disability, Humanity and the NDIS (By: Micheline Lee)
Buy on Amazon2023
87
The Great Divide: Australia's Housing Mess and How to Fix It (By: Alan Kohler)
Buy on Amazon2023
88
Bad Cop: Peter Dutton's Strongman Politics (By: Stephen Smith)
Buy on Amazon2024
89
Highway to Hell: Climate Change and Australia's Future (By: Joëlle Gergis)
Buy on Amazon2024
90
High Noon: Trump, Harris and America on the Brink; Quarterly Essay 95 (By: Don Watson)
Buy on Amazon2024
91
Minority Report: The New Shape of Australian Politics (By: George Megalogenis)
Buy on Amazon2024
92
Losing It: Can we stop violence against women and children?; Quarterly Essay 97 (By: Jess Hill)
Buy on Amazon2025
Frequently Asked Questions
The recommended reading order for the Quarterly Essay series is publication order: 1. Quarterly Essay 1 In Denial: The Stolen Generations and the Right (By: Robert Manne) (2001), 2. Appeasing Jakarta: Australia's Complicity in the East Timor Tragedy (2001), 3. Quarterly Essay 3 The Opportunist: John Howard and the Triumph of Reaction (By: Guy Rundle) (2001), 4. Rabbit Syndrome: Australia and America (By: Don Watson) (2001), 5. Beyond Belief: What Future for Labor? (By: John Button) (2002), and 87 more. This is generally the best way to experience the story as the author intended.
The Quarterly Essay series by John Birmingham contains 92 books. The series began in 2001 and continues to be a popular choice for readers.
The Quarterly Essay series is written by John Birmingham. You can find more books and series by this author on our website.
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