Peter Ryan's 'Fear Drive My Feet', written in 1944 but not first published until 1959, is a now classic memoir of the Second World War in New Guinea. Attached to the Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit as a Patrol Officer by virtue of a smattering of the Tok Pisin language, a 19 year old Ryan is thrust into the mountainous hinterlands of Lae, a remote and foreboding between the lines wilderness. Reliant on the knowledge, courage, bravery and stoic endurance of his accompanying native 'police boys', it is an extraordinary tale. Ryan's primary mission of observing the invading Japanese enemy becomes largely secondary to the hearts and minds campaign in every interaction with the native peoples who extend their friendship, ambivalence, hostility and sometimes treachery. Ryans respect and affection for the native peoples whom he works with and meets in his travels stands out in stark contrast to the more prevalent attitudes of the time. An extraordinary book and a unique perspective on the New Guinea campaign. Highly Recommended.

- Copy purchased by the Reviewer from the Paperback Bookshop, Melbourne.