The historian Jan Bassett has selected 90 extracts from the writings of notable explorers and imaginers of the Antipodes. These date from the sixteenth century to the 1990s. The anthology is arranged thematically and includes the following categories: Dreamers, Sailors, Artists and Critics, Scientists, Convalescents, Adventurers, Gold-seekers, Journalists, Political and Social Commentators, Missionaries, Sightseers, Sporting Figures, Entertainers and Expatriates. The range of authors is catholic: it includes Jonathan Swift, Jules Verne, Joseph Conrad, Kenneth Clark, Charles Darwin, Robin Hanbury Tenison, Herbert Hoover, Anthony Eden, Anthony Trollope, Mark Twain, Bruce Chatwin, Jan Morris, Harold Larwood, Germaine Greer and Peter Conrad. The editor provides a scholarly introduction and notes on each extract and author.