'This is a biography of Sir Donald Bradman, perhaps the greatest batsman in the history of cricket. Much has been written about Bradman as a cricketer, but his life as an Ausralian has often been overlooked. This book puts Bradman's cricketing achievements into the context of an Australia feeling her way towards something the world would recognise as "nationhood". The years spanned by his career, from the late 1920s to the late 1940s, represented a decisive period in the history of modern Australia. During that period, Bradman was an icon. His test average, famously, was 99.94; the second highest is 60.97. The author, Charles Williams shows how that genius became a focus for Australian aspirations during a particulary important period of history.' (Publication summary)
'Charles Williams, who captained Oxford in 1955, played several seasons for Essex and became a Labour life peer in 1985, has produced, in the circumstances, a solid, all-round job with his new Life of Don Bradman. The circumstances are that the non-smoking, near-teetotal Bradman is a dull dog, once prone to an infinite number of psychosomatic and other ailments, and that there have been over a dozen previous books about him, mainly by those who had the crucial advantage of being colleagues, or who saw him in action from close to. There are also four books about his own career by Sir Donald himself.' (Introduction)
'Charles Williams, who captained Oxford in 1955, played several seasons for Essex and became a Labour life peer in 1985, has produced, in the circumstances, a solid, all-round job with his new Life of Don Bradman. The circumstances are that the non-smoking, near-teetotal Bradman is a dull dog, once prone to an infinite number of psychosomatic and other ailments, and that there have been over a dozen previous books about him, mainly by those who had the crucial advantage of being colleagues, or who saw him in action from close to. There are also four books about his own career by Sir Donald himself.' (Introduction)
