From the preface: "It is appropriate that the imminent centenary of the start of World War l should be marked by publishing in one volume the work of the greatest New Zealand front-line writer about that war. Ormond Edward Burton lived life at an uncompromising extreme, whether as a soldier - when he more than once voluntarily went to considerable lengths to put himself in harm's way, as he saw it, in his unit's interests - or later as a clergyman Christian pacifist. In both capacities, he was widely respected...In 1935 Ormond Burton -that rare being, a man of action and a man of letters- wrote a broader volume entitled The Silent Division - New Zealanders at the Front, 1914 - 1919. It is a compelling mix of the abstract and the lyrical in style. It is all written in the third person...Much later, in about 1968, he wrote an autobiography entitled A Rich Old Man, which was never published. Part ll of that is Concerning One Man's War - 1914 - 1919 which in the present volume first sees the light of day in its entirety...Bringing the author's two different styles and standpoints together in one set of covers, provides a unique record of the important period in New Zealand's military history, and national heritage, about to be commemorated. "