'Ritchie has provided an exciting and dramatic account of the life and work of Macquarie. We learn, in contrast to the antiseptic treatment of the standard text books, that Macquarie was a man of strong passions, beliefs, plans and ambitions which drove him to hobnob with polite London society, to beg for promotion and favours from his superiors, to wangle commissions for his relatives, to be generous to a fault with those he sought to help and to demand unquestioning support from those he promoted or pardoned.' Malcolm J. Kennedy, Agora