From the journalist behind The Lost Diggers comes this timely biography on C.E.W. Bean, the man credited with creating the ANZAC legend.

Whether it be from his reporting from the front as Australia’s official WWI correspondent, his official histories of the Great War, or as the driving force behind the creation of the Australian War Memorial and Commonwealth Archives, there is no doubt that Charles Bean has had a huge impact on our understanding of Australian history.

Coulthart also discusses censorship, whether official or self-regulated, bringing his own perspective as an embedded journalist into play, and compares Bean’s hundreds of meticulously kept journals to his official history.

A must-read for any who are interested in Australian history, military or otherwise.

From the journalist who brought us The Lost Diggers, Ross Coulthart, comes our Book of the Month, Charles Bean. Not only a biography of the man credited with creating the ANZAC legend, who recorded, commemorated, and shaped so much of Australian history and identity in particular through the formation of the Australian War Memorial, Commonwealth Archives and his official reporting on and histories of the Great War, Coulthart's fascinating account also examines what it is to be an embedded war correspondent (as Bean certainly was), problems of censorship, the differences in Bean's own journals to the account given in official history and reports, and why that may be so, using his own experience as an embedded journalist to help reflect on this.

This is a must read for any interested in the Great War and Australia's role in it, military history in general, or journalism in zones of conflict. It is highly recommended read for any interested in Australian history and identity, or who loves a well-written and intelligent biography.