AustLit

'In late 2014 I co-organised a workshop at Macquarie University on ‘The Self and History’ with my former colleague Kate Fullagar. This was linked to another workshop I co-organised as Director of the Centre for Applied History with Australian Dictionary of Biography (hereafter ADB) colleagues on family history. We planned a masterclass with higher degree research students and early career researchers as part of the proceedings and asked participants to prepare an ADB entry about themselves in advance to share with others at the workshop. We hoped this task would encourage people to think carefully about how we construct life-stories, what sources are available to us when we do this work, as well as the limits and possibilities of what authors can and might reveal about their lives, given the opportunity to do so. It was one of the most enjoyable projects I have shared with friends, colleagues, peers, and students. We all learned much about the construction of historical knowledge as well as ourselves and each other in the process. I have reflected many times on the activity since, when writing up life-stories in different formats and for varied audiences. I also draw upon the task when I talk to my students about historical significance. Scholars agree that examining the construction of life-stories can provide us with unprecedented insight into how history is undertaken, imagined, and discussed by ‘ordinary people’.' (Introduction)

'There is a heaven for those writers whose work lives for generations, and Stuart Macintyre's will. This is not a conventional Festschrift, editors Peter Beilharz and Sian Supski tell us, where ‘invited scholars are licensed to give the subject a nod before bolting off elsewhere on their own’ (2). Instead, each contributor engages with a particular area of Stuart's work, and while some are reminiscences of collaboration and collegiality, others are extended conversations between close colleagues and comrades that we are privileged to overhear. The Work of History not only brings Stuart back, often in ways unknown to some of us, but will ensure that those who never knew him will enjoy his intellectual companionship.'(Introduction)

'Most academic authors pitch their books to a publisher by claiming to fill a gap in the literature. In the case of Australia's honour system, it is more like a gulf. Like the national flag, the honours system can appear such an obvious and well-defined symbol that its complex history escapes academic attention. Elizabeth Kwan has addressed one of those issues with Flag and Nation (NewSouth, 2006). Now Karen Fox has provided the first comprehensive history of the Australian honours system.' (Introduction)