Karen Chisholm
REVIEW
GANGLAND AUSTRALIA - James Morton and Susanna Lobez
Reviewed By
Saturday, June 19, 2010
I bought this book at last years Crime & Justice festival, and at the time Susanna Lobez was kind enough to sign it with me including the inscription "Stay curious!".
And that is the best way I can recommend this book - staying curious, reading this sort of historical true crime fiction, reminds you that nothing is ever really new. And nothing is ever "the worst it has ever been" or "never before in the history...." or whatever else the media feeds you (obviously I'm thinking of the "Underbelly Wars" here).
Commencing at the beginning of the arrival of the British in Australia, this book takes you right through to the 1990's, outlining the various criminal gangs, crimelords and warlords, as well as their lesser and greater known exploits. So much is touched on - the drug dealing, prostitution, stand-over merchants, infights, murders, and bashings.
And it ranges over a range of different cities, nationalities, groupings, allegiances, loyalties and disloyalties.
This is a great book to read through, or to dip in and out of. And it is a tremendous book to remind you that there's very little new under the sun.
BOOK DETAILS
BOOK INFORMATION
BLURB
"Gangland Australia" is a book about organized crime and the professional criminals who have recklessly cut a swathe through Australia over the last 200 years. It is a book with accounts of murder, robbery, standover, prostitution, drugs, great escapes, revenge, betrayal, corruption, police, lawyers, doctors and politicians.This is a forensic investigation of criminal gangs in Australia, from convicts and bushrangers right up to the recent gangland slayings in Melbourne.It is written in a very accessible style, with a narrative flow which reads as part history, part-thriller. The authors have done extensive research and cover a myriad of Australian crime histories including tracing back the beginnings of drug trafficking, ethnic crime waves, police corruption to name a few.Written by one of Britain's most popular true crime authors, James Morton, and leading Australian legal journalist, Susanna Lobez, this is the latest in Morton's highly successful series, which includes "Gangland", "Gangland: The Early Years", "Gangland International: The Mafia and Other Mobs", and "Gangland: The Lawyers".
| Review | GANGLAND AUSTRALIA - James Morton and Susanna Lobez | Karen Chisholm
|
Saturday, June 19, 2010 |
| Blog | Currently Reading - Gangland Australia, James Morton and Susanna Lobez | Karen Chisholm
|
Wednesday, April 14, 2010 |