Roslyn Russell

Manning Clark is Australia's most influential historian, and his work continues to set agendas and generate debate long after his death. This selection of his letters offers an unparalleled view of the complex intellectual and emotional life of this controversial figure.

From his time as a young man at Oxford in the late 1930s, to his final days half a century later, he maintained a lively and erudite correspondence with family and with a wide range of public figures and other people. With an immediacy not visible in Clark's published work, his letters reveal his life-long struggle to tell the story of his country. They also embody his hopes for Australia and the dismay he felt about many trends he saw emerging in the closing decades of the twentieth century.

The letters track a progression from academic to public sage, as well as the influence of his personal life upon his work. Correspondence from his travels to the Soviet Union, the USA and other countries reflect a biting insight as well as attitudes that might surprise the many who have accused him of left-wing bias.

Ever, Manning is fascinating reading for anyone interested in Australian history.