'To be invited to review this edited collection was a daunting proposition and it has taken me over twelve months to sit down and complete the task. I did have valid work reasons for my tardiness but I should have done it much sooner for I found the task highly enjoyable, very easy, and illuminating on a number of levels. This is an important collection of essays from some of Australia's leading historians and early career researchers, brought together in honour of one of Australia's most influential, living historians, Marilyn Lake. I learnt so much reading this book, not only about Marilyn herself and her illustrious career but also about the finer details of the evolution of the history profession in Australia from the late 1970s.' (Introduction)