Australian writing has excelled in the short story, as Michael Wilding's selection strongly demonstrates. His anthology ranges across more than 120 years of Australian fiction, from the great originals such as Marcus Clarke and Henry Lawson to contemporary stylists such as Helen Garner and Tim Winton. Many of the writers are recognized throughout the world - Patrick White, Christina Stead, Peter Carey, to name just three - but the anthology also introduces less familiar and celebrated writers. The Australian short story has always included both realist and formally experimental elements. This anthology represents both tendencies. It shows the ways in which the cosmopolitan, expatriate experiences of writers such as Stead and White invigorated the genre; and how, during the 1960s and 1970s - an exciting and innovative time for Australian fiction - short story writers responded to international models and explored the potential of the form. The anthology is notable for the quality of writings by Aboriginal and non-Anglo-Saxon contributors, and for the abundance of fine stories from women - from Barbara Baynton, Henry Handel Richardson, and Marjorie Barnard to Charmian Clift, Elizabeth Jolley, and Janette Turner Hospital.