Grantlee Kieza

The first half of Joseph Banks' consequential life was exceptionally varied and unusual for the time period. Kieza's biograph captures this especially well. But the latter half of Banks' life was more a tale of him holding multiple important positions (i.e., president of the Royal Society for over 40 years), sponsoring and funding other botanical explorers and promoting the sciences. At this point, Kieza's book becomes something more of a tale of the development of early Australia, which Banks definitely influenced but feels like the narrative has slipped off the rails.… (meer)