Wild Men of Sydney

by Cyril Pearl

W. H. Allen & Co., 1970, black and white photographic plates, hardcover, dustjacket

Very Good Condition, a little edge and shelf wear, a little rubbing and bumping to edges and corners, no inscriptions, dustjacket shows some edge and shelf wear with some rubbing, bumping, small chips and tears to covers, edges and corners (see photographs)

“Colourful villains never fail to fascinate.  Here we meet a trio of shameless rogues – and their cohorts – who wrought a trail of havoc and scandal across the social and political life of Australia at the turn of the century.  John Norton, William Willis and Paddy Crick were villains with a difference.  They were men of undoubted talents – powerful orators and masters of vituperative writing – and to gain their ends there was no wickedness to which they would not stoop.  For a reign of nearly twenty years they had New South Wales in a ferment of scandal and intrigue, and in the telling of their story there emerges a picture of corruption, blackmail and moral degradation which outmatches Tammany Hall at its worst.”