xxiv 276 pages. indexed, annotated, illustrated. The book is ex library and apart from being covered in contact, it also suffers from the usual library marks; the pages a tanned. Despite its faults, aesthetic rather than structural, it is overall a very good second hand copy. In his introduction Russel Ward asks why Australia, one of the most liberal democracies in the English speaking world was the first to introduce conscription during WW1.