Book Reviews and Notices : American-Australian Relations. By WERNER LEVI. (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. 1947. Pp. 184. $2. 75. )

• Author: Dell G. Hitchner
• DOI: 10.1177/106591294800100334
• Published date: 01 September 1948
• Date: 01 September 1948
• Subject Matter: Articles

339

riving

at

inconsistent

and

unrealistic

policies,

to

be

carried

out

by

amateur

and

patronage-selected

ministers,

and

in

an

atmosphere

overlaid

with

the

promotion

of

dubious

commerical

claims

and

rumors

of

improper

personal

interest,

could

hardly

result

in

a

role

for

the

United

States

as

a

responsible

and

disinterested

mediator

of

the

dispute.

Such

is

the

story

here

related.

The

author

has

made

extensive

use

in

his

study

of

official

diplomatic

correspondence

from

the

State

Department

archives,

as

well

as

newspapers

and

other

appropriate

sources,

and

the

result

is

a

workmanlike

job.

Al-

though

in

its

broader

aspects

the

study

reaches

no

new

conclusions,

it

is,

indeed,

upon

just

such

detailed

monographs

as

this

that

writers

and

teachers

must

constantly

rely

to

sharpen

their

perception

of

individual

incidents

and

to

avoid

over-generalization

when

surveying

the

entire

history

of

American

diplomacy.

While

the

study

is

generally

well-balanced

and

organized,

it

tends

to

focus

its

attention

primarily

on

American

policy

as

it

is

applied

at

the

scene

of

events

and,

at

times

therefore,

fails

adequately

to

relate

that

policy

to

domestic

American

politics,

of

which

it

is

also

in

part

a

product.

The

appendices

contain

summaries

of

the

major

treaties

pertinent

to

the

subject

and

a

bibliography;

a

map

of

the

area

in

question

would

have

been

a

welcome

addition.

DELL

G.

HITCHNER.

University

of

Washington.

American-Australian

Relations

.

By

WERNER

LEVI.

(Minneapolis:

Univer-

sity

of

Minnesota

Press.

1947.

Pp.

184.

$2. 75. )

This

monograph

is

the

first

comprehensive

historical

survey

of

the

relations

between

the

United

States

and

Australia,

tracing

the

subject

from

1792

to

1946.

Those

interested

in

American

foreign

affairs

generally

or

in

politics

of

the

Pacific

particularly

will

recognize

its

contribution.

Most

stan-

dard

treatments

of

American

diplomacy,

such

as

those

of

Latané

and Wain-

house,

Mathews,

Williams,

or

Shaw,

make

no

mention

of

Australia

at

all;

or,

as

those

of

Bailey,

Bemis,

or

Van

Alstyne,

touch

on

it

only

incidentally.

Such

omission

is

a

consequence,

of

course,

of

the

relative

unimportance

of

American

relations

with

Australia

until

the

eve

of

World

War

II;

indeed,

the

two

states

did

not

exchange

diplomatic

representatives

directly

until

1940.

Professor

Levi

deals,

therefore,

with

an

aspect

of

American

external

affairs

which,

until

the

last

decade,

has

been

neither

momentous

nor

dra-

matic,

but

which

is

necessarily

destined

to

become

of

increasing

importance.

American-Australian

relations

in

the

nineteenth

century

were

primarily

commercial

ones,

although

extensive

mutual

trade

was

inhibited

by

the

fact

that

the

two

states

produced

competitive

goods

and

raw

materials.

Aus-

tralia

early

demonstrated

an

interest

in

friendly

relations

with

the

United