"This book brings together sixteen well-known writers from diverse backgrounds: Debra Adelaide, Paul Ashton, Anna Clark, Robert Crawford, John Dale, Ross Gibson, Bridget Griffen-Foley, Lucinda Holdforth, Julia Horne, Paul Kiem, John Maynard, Betty O'Neill, Penny Russell, Janis Wilton, Garry Wotherspoon and Clare Wright. It looks at how history -- a discipline which generally strives for critical distance -- and the past -- a concept which is open-ended and useful in the present -- are used in a range of genres from historical and 'true crime' novels to family history and memoir."--Page 4 of cover.