Culturally too the interior looms large: in Australians' imaginings, in tourism campaigns, and in the arts and media. But despite this, to most it remains an enigma, an emptiness whose distant rural communities and their populations are the subjects of stubborn misperceptions. Outside Country makes an invaluable contribution to the rethinking of inland Australia. Through essays that mix the broad sweep of history with personal perspectives drawn from diaries, letters, oral histories and literature, it examines the rich and varied social, cultural and environmental histories of regions that continue to play a crucial role in the ongoing development of the Australian nation.