'Ryszard W. Wolny, which provides an overview of early Australian war writings. According to the author, during and shortly after the First World War little of literary value was produced in Australia, which is surprising, taking into account the myth of the Great War in Australian culture. Dividing his analysis into manly adventures, sceptical voices, women's responses, and heroic myth-making, Wolny interprets a variety of Australian poetical and fictional texts, with a particular emphasis on Frederic Manning's Her Privates We (1929).' (Introduction xv)