For the work he describes in this book, Peter Ryan was awarded the Military Medal and mentioned in dispatches. New Guinea, originally a German colony, was a major staging area of war in the Pacific. The Japanese military made forays there in an attempt to come within striking distance of Australia. Peter Ryan's intelligence work was part of Australia's attempt to protect itself from potential enemy incursions. Peter Ryan wrote this book at the age of 21, shortly after the events it describes. A friend visiting the author in 1958 read the manuscript without his knowledge, and sent it to a publisher. Ten days later it was signed for publication, and was released in 1959. It has been considered a classic of war literature for over forty years.

Rarely out of print, Fear Drive My Feet is a classic memoir of the war in the Pacific. Never previously published in the US. This new edition features an introduction by Peter Pierce, one of Australia's most respected literary critics, and the co-author of Vietnam Days.