Robert Manne is emeritus professor of politics and vice-chancellor’s fellow at La Trobe University. His most recent books are The Mind of the Islamic State and On Borrowed Time. In the early spring of 2016 I woke in the middle of the night, at a time when my defences were down, aware of a lump in my throat.
Manne has aligned at various times within the Australian political scene from left to right, then back to left again; he titled a compendium of his political essays Left, Right, Left. Between 1989 and 1997 Manne edited the conservative magazine Quadrant, resigning when his editorial policies diverged from the views of the magazine's management committee.
Quarterly Essay is an Australian periodical that straddles the border between magazines and non-fiction books. Printed in a book-like page size and using a single-column format, each issue features a single extended essay of at least 20,000 words, with an introduction by the editor, and correspondence relating to essays in previous issues.
Quarterly Essay is the leading agenda-setting journal of politics and culture in Australia. Established in 2001, Quarterly Essay presents the widest range of political, intellectual and cultural opinion, and aims to foster debate. It offers a forum for original long-form investigations, profiles and arguments.