Sir John Monash was one of Australia's greatest soldiers, but this book is much more than a military study. Monash was a graduate of the University of Melbourne in three faculties - Arts, Law and Engineering; he was a man of wide-ranging intellect, especially devoted to literature, music, theatre, languages and scholarship. He first achieved wide fame as a soldier - a citizen soldier.
His baptism of fire occurred at Gallipoli, and he was almost the only senior Allied General to emerge in 1918 from the agony of the Western Front with his reputation virtually unspoiled. A Jew, he spent his energies lavishly on the public affairs of his native Australia, and his prestige at the service of many causes.