Two times there was a wholesale destruction of Jacksonville's official records – in the War Between the States and by the fire of May 3, 1901. The author's effort in this work was to collect all of the available authentic matter for permanent preservation in book form. The record closes as of December 31, 1924. The record is derived from many sources – long forgotten books and pamphlets; old letters and diaries that have been stored away as family memorials of the past; newspapers beginning with the St. Augustine Herald in 1822 (on file at the Congressional Library at Washington) fragmentary for the early years, but extremely valuable for historical research; almost a complete file of local newspapers from 1875 to date; from the unpublished statements of old residents of conditions and outstanding events within the period of their clear recollection; and from a multitude of other sources of reliability. The search through the highways and the byways for local history was in the spare moments of the author stretching over a period of a score of years, a pastime "hobby" with no idea of making money out of it. No attempt has been made to discuss the merits of any incident, but only to present the facts, just as they were and just as they are, from the records and sources indicated.

This brilliant account of Labour's most stormy years in Australia, first published in 1923, is a pioneering study of the movement in Parliament. Childe was later famous as an archaeologist, but from 1919 to 1921 he was a private secretary to John Storey, Labour Premier of New South Wales. He thus gained particular insight into the struggle between the trade union and parliamentary wings of the party following Australia’s participation in World War I. Cast aside by the party of which he had been a radical member, Childe wrote in a spirit of bitter disillusion which is apparent in the book. The quality of the mind revealed in the writing would be reason enough for bringing this work once more within reach of students and politicians, but its place in the development of political theory provides an equally strong motive.