[1] Long completed a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Sydney in 1922 and taught at The King's School, Parramatta in 1922 and 1923.

In 1930 he was made a senior reporter at the Melbourne Argus but was later reduced in rank due to the impact of the Great Depression on the paper.

As well as providing guidance to the other authors, he wrote three of the volumes in the series (To Benghazi (published 1952), Greece, Crete and Syria (1953) and The Final Campaigns (1963).

Long's books were well received by reviewers and his close involvement with the other authors gave the series a unity of purpose and method.

The Six Years War was written well before it was published, but its publication was delayed while the final volumes in the official history series were completed.