John Birmingham

The central hero of this fine sequel is Gen.Henry Arnold. Arnold has more than enough on his plate, a multi-war chaos in the midst of its prime and a horrific scene that he and his men, whom have witnessing far too much destruction and bloodshed, have given way forcefully into the psyches of his men. Even when he is staring right back into the evil, demented and methodical eyes of Hitler and Stalin, there is only triumph set in his sights.

The best place to start is the Quarterly Essay series, the earliest of John Birmingham's multi-book series: it opens with In Denial (2001) and runs to 99 books across 2001–2026, ending with On Australia and Asia (2026). John Birmingham's other series stand alone, so they can be read in any order.

John Birmingham has 154 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1992 and 2026. 133 of them belong to 11 named series — the largest being the Quarterly Essay series with 99 books — and 21 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.

Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. John Birmingham's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are Quarterly Essay (2001–2026, 99 books), Short Blacks (2001–2015, 5 books) and Axis Of Time (2004–2006, 3 books), plus 8 more.

This guide splits John Birmingham's 154 books into 11 named series and 21 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: Quarterly Essay (99 books, 2001–2026); Dave vs. The Monsters (6 books, 2014–2017); Short Blacks (5 books, 2001–2015); The Cruel Stars (4 books, 2019–2024); Axis Of Time (3 books, 2004–2006), plus 6 further series.