Cirrus@Austlit

'Ashley Mallett’s newest book, The Black Lords of Summer, his fourth for UQP, purports to be historical and is possibly his most ambitious work. Its subtitle suggests that it might provide a narrative history of the tour and examine its repercussions. It would be nice to say that it succeeds but it doesn’t. It doesn’t ask historical questions and it doesn’t reach historical conclusions. The author (a journalist by training) may feel that words like ‘story’ and ‘beyond’ give him the licence to stray off the track but good journalists, and especially good historians, maintain much better control over their material than is exhibited here.'  (Introduction)