It's taken me a year to read this. Not because it's a hard read, but because it's such a spread of topics and time that I found it best savoured and appreciated in smaller doses. To some extent, the history is coloured by Keneally's own biases, particularly his Irish heritage, but whose view of history isn't biased? He has a point of view and it's informative to see Australia from where he sits. I look forward to taking a year to read the second volume. ( )