There are moments when I know just how that coelacanth felt when the African fisherman dragged her up into a power boat. This book is an attempt to present the activities and motivations of a generation whose writings are fossilised in archives. I hoped, because I was influenced by that generation, that I could interpret their efforts in such a way that people here and now would at least sympathise with their strivings even though they believe them to be misguided. That is what I have been telling myself anyway.

What kind of people lived in Scotland in the Middle Ages? The author has some surprising answers to this question, one of the many he found himself contemplating when he decided to look into the background of 'The Tretis of the Tua Mariit Wemen and the Wedo' by the fifteenth century Scottish poet, William Dunbar. The poem concerns three lovely women, discovered conversing in a grove on Midsummer Eve. Two are dissatisfied with their husbands, the third dispenses outspoken advice on the way sensible women should regard the institution of marriage.

The tantalising title of this book derives from Shakespeare{u2019}s Autolycus, that engaging scoundrel who snapped up any 'unconsidered trifles'. A.D. Hope describes his traffic, like that of Autolycus, as being 'in sheets', and the sheets as being the results of his curiosity and speculation over many years of exploring the corners and byways of literary history. The books that aroused Hope{u2019}s curiosity range wide and far over time, from Beowulf to Kangaroo.

How good or bod was the performance of Australian military commanders in World War II? Controversy over this has continued ever since the end of the war. Australia entered the war with seriously deficient defence planning. The armed services were inadequately trained and had little equipment. Australia's strategic assessments were deficient or inaccurate. It is against this background that the achievements and failures of the commanders are assessed in the Papua New Guinea campaigns - bloody battles fought against a determined enemy in a savagely difficult terrain.

Although trade with China is no longer regarded exclusively as a one-way street permitting Western mercantilism to exploit an infinite market, the subject has been largely ignored in the West since the establishment of the People's Republic. Hence the importance of this pioneering study. In his illuminating discussion of the objectives of Chinese foreign trade, Professor Hsiao explains its significance both in the development of the national economy and in a diplomatic context.