American Stories: Tales of Hope and Anger

An engrossing account of America on a knife's edge by one of Australia's most well known journalists.

In July 2009, Michael Brissenden, political editor for The 7.30 Report, moved to Washington to take up a new role as US current affairs correspondent for ABC TV. It promised to be a change, and a challenge. Here is his fascinating account of his time in America, from an analysis of how Barack Obama meets the enormous expectations of those who voted him into office – and the equally enormous expectations of a world that hoped for big changes from his presidency – to the people Brissenden meets along the way, and the long and fractious political process that will either deliver Obama a chance to be a truly transformative president or place him along side one-term leaders like Jimmy Carter.

With unprecedented scope to grapple with the issues, to travel across the country and to tell the stories of the players, the hopeful true believers, the skeptics, the winners and the losers, Brissenden writes with searing honesty and intelligence.

American Stories explores this extraordinary moment in American history and just how America's choices affect Australia and the rest of the world, and shows exactly what it's like to be a foreign correspondent in the lead-up to one of the world's most influential elections.