Christopher Hilliard is a professor at the University of Sydney, where he is currently chair of the Department of History. He grew up in New Zealand and studied at the University of Auckland before completing his PhD at Harvard. He is the author of three previous books, including English as a Vocation: The 'Scrutiny' Movement (OUP, 2012), about F. R. Leavis and his followers, and To Exercise Our Talents: The Democratization of Writing in Britain (2006), which traces a forgotten history of aspiring writers' clubs and how-to-be-an-author magazines.