<p>The Australian constitutional founders explicitly wanted to build a hybrid polity drawing upon the constitution and constitutional practices of the United States and the British Westminster tradition. As David Long shows in this innovative study, although lip services was given throughout the 20^th Century to the United States influence, the legacy of British legal literalism within the Australian High Court restricted and eroded the federal and compact of the people essences of the Australian constitution. What emerged was essentially a unitary and undemocratic polity removed for the original intention of the founders. Long argues that this diminished and diminishes Australia. He shows how the lack of a proper interpretative approach towards the Australian constitution that respected the United States influence directly lead to the constitutional crisis of 1975 where an appointed Governor-General dismissed a democratically elected government. Further, he argues that without due regarded for founders’ intentions the spectre of unchecked executive power remains an ever-present possibility within Australia.</p>

- Kieran Tranter, Queensland University of Technology,

<p>Australia's American Constitution and the Dismissal is an innovative and revealing examination of how Isaac Isaacs was instrumental in transforming the Australian founding. It provides valuable new insights into the way jurisprudential ideas such as legal positivism have shaped and continue to influence Australian federalism and constitutionalism. </p>

- Haig Patapan, Griffith University,