"Sir Arthur Tange was perhaps the most powerful Secretary of the Australian Defence Department and one of the most powerful of the great 'mandarins' who dominated the Commonwealth Public Service between the 1940s and the 1970s. He served as Secretary of the Defence Department from 1970 to 1979, the last decade of his career, having previously served as Secretary of the Department of External Affairs (later renamed Foreign Affairs) from 1954 to 1965. Tange wrote this account in his last years. Controversies from his time in Defence, including those associated with 'the Tange report' and 'the Tange reforms', echo to this day, and it is still easy to identify both staunch admirers and vitriolic critics in defence and public service circles. One of the major themes implicit in this memoir is the extent to which his administrative decisions and policy advice in Defence in the 1970s were based on his experience in External Affairs in the 1950s and 1960s. This account shows what lessons he derived from that experience and how he applied those lessons when he, rather unexpectedly, became Secretary of the Defence Department."--Provided by publisher.