In the 1970s the Cold War was simmering with rising superpower tensions, while Australia’s foreign policy was moving from containment of communism towards a closer engagement with Asia, leading to a more multicultural society at home. The turbulent students of politics at the time, fueled by savage anti-war demonstrations and the left facing off against the right, were testing the mettle of Australia’s political leadership.

Drawing on four decades of intimate knowledge of Australia’s political leaders and foreign policy, Greg Sheridan questions what values replaced those of the Cold War? and do the strategic values of the Cold War still serve us well today?