Manning Clark's work provokes violent reactions for and against. His majestic six-volume A History of Australia 'helped us to know who we are'. Yet attacks on Clark stretch back fifty years, and Peter Ryan accused him recently of writing 'gooey subjective pap, much of it false'.
These essays offer detailed, scholarly analysis of the History—its style and structure, its dominant themes, its treatment of women and Aborigines, its sense of place, its reliability. They examine Clark's place among Australian historians, artists and writers, his public role as 'the best guru in the business', his teaching methods, his philosophy of life, and his thinking on national identity.
How should we judge Manning Clark's contribution? What is his place in Australian history? This book seeks to inform opinion and to steady the debate. Its contributors include historians, political scientists, literary critics, classicists, men and women, young and old, friends and enemies.