'Many Australians know of E.W. Cole (1832–1918) from Cole's Funny Picture Book, first published in 1879 and followed by new editions, reissues and reprints into the 1990s. But the afterlife of Cole's career amounts to more than memories of childhood reading. Richard Broinowski's Under the Rainbow: The Life and Times of EW Cole takes an expansive view of Cole's life in a thorough and engaging biography which tells the story of Cole's success as a marketer and entrepreneur, and provides insights into the convictions that energised him. Prominent among these was his passionate rejection of the White Australia Policy, which found expression in pamphlets, public addresses and his three-month visit to Japan in 1903. Under the Rainbow is a strikingly handsome book with many judiciously-chosen visual images.' (Introduction)