This is not travelogue, it is dazzlingly eloquent and perceptive; it is the Tocqueville of damaged but persistent and enduring dreams. Like Tocqueville, and unlike much writing by foreigners about the United States, it is affectionate and comes across the many Americas and their oddities with an uncondemning eye. It is entertaining and celebrates the not-often mentioned capacity of Americans to talk, narrate their lives and utter orations, a tendency which has always interested me as a foreigner. It is full of incident and consistently engaging. As a star of the epigram he's right up there with Tocqueville, and as a story-teller he loses nothing to Theroux.--Thomas Keneally, author of Schindler's List, on American Journeys

A marvelous polemic.--Forbes, on Death Sentence

Watson wields the language like a bullwhip.--San Diego Union-Tribune, on Death Sentence

There is a dictionary of clichés on my desktop in Beirut and I heartily recommend Watson's Dictionary of Weasel Words by the Australian Don Watson.--Robert Fisk, author of The Great War for Civilisation, on Watson's Dictionary of Weasel Words, Cant and Management Jargon

A truly magnificent achievement.--Peter Carey, author of Parrot and Olivier in America, on The Passion of Private White

The book's brilliance lies in the way it reveals the layers of complexity both in the politics which surround Keating, which will feel familiar to anyone who has been at the heart of government at that level, and also the layers of complexity in the man himself. . . . And if you want to get a real feel for politics from the inside then yes, I might recommend my diaries, but I would definitely recommend Watson's book, too. At almost 750 pages, you will need a fair bit of time to read it, but if you're like me, you will get to the end and want to read it again.--The New European, on Recollections of a Bleeding Heart

This is a brilliant original work.--Times Literary Supplement, on Caledonia Australis

A loving rumination on Australia, the landmass, and those who live on it and from it. . . . Watson refuses to be captured by easy categorisations or received opinion. . . . The writing is crisp, witty and sardonic. . . . Watson is an original, with an authentic, prophetic voice.--The Monthly, on The Bush

Watson's magnificent, celebratory, contradictory study of the Australian bush will challenge the national imagination.--The Weekend Australian, on The Bush

Praise for Don Watson

"The best book by an outsider about America--forever.--David Sedaris, author of Me Talk Pretty One Day, on American Journeys

A Barnes & Noble Best Paperback of the Month

An insightful and clear account of the country, its founding ideas and the people who have tested 'the truth of those ideas.'-- "The Age"

Publisher: Experiment

Pub date: 2026-04-14

Length: 304 pages