Peter Fitzsimmons tells a damn good story! As a teacher of history, I could see that he builds this biography on historical documents. And Fitzsimmons openly wears his heart on his sleeve: he does not condone Kelly's actions, but he portrays him as a noble man pushed by circumstances, the police and the governing classes into a life of noble desperation. This is a brilliant read, but it is possible to come to less positive assessments of Ned Kelly than that presented here.

Another fantastic biography from Peter FitzSimons, and it has changed my opinion of him somewhat. While I think he ended up as a murderer, and an attempted mass-murderer at that with the intent to derail a train at Glenrowan, he was I will concede to a certain extent pushed into it by the actions of the police (and Victorian society) in his youth.

The telling point is the anecdote related late in the book that in Victoria every man is presumed innocent until proven Irish. That such a joke existed at the time is an indication to me of the position of the Irish, or at least poor Irish, in Victorian society at the time. This joke is enough to make me think that coming from the poor underclass Ned and his ilk may have been provoked by his, his family's, and his countrymen's treatment by Victorian society in general, to fight back, and as it says in Proverbs 14:12 "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death."

He was a brave man, and a leader. Peter FitzSimons points out that in different circumstances and given half a chance he probably would have made a great general in the army for instance. In this I agree. ( )