Cirrus@Austlit

'What makes us Australian? Fifty years ago, the laconic bush worker was indisputably the typical Australian, and any Australian schoolchild could have quoted at least the first verse of Banjo Patterson's Man from Snowy River. Now at the beginning of the 21st century, waves of immigration and a highly cosmopolitan urban culture make it more difficult to see what it is that unites us on this dry brown land. This collection of some of the best Australian writing old and new, from across the continent, reminds us of our heritage and shows we have much to be proud of.' (Publisher's blurb)