Kevin Childs is a former Age journalist and it shows. The 10 stories that make up this welcoming book reflect the hallmarks of good journalism: clarity, simplicity and thorough research. Moreover, Childs writes in a style that is fluent and almost conversational. We can readily imagine him telling these stories to us personally. The book is celebratory of the Australian character and more specifically, quirky and often little-known moments from the past. The subtitle of the book is revealing. Rebels, Rogues and Ratbags are exactly what is presented here. But this is not with any suggestion of judgement. Childs has a nose for a good story and he tells it effortlessly. There is, for example, the insightful account of the ‘ladies of the night’ in 19th-century Melbourne, in a tongue-in-cheek tale, ‘The Wickedest Woman in Melbourne’. This sits comfortably beside the whimsical ‘The Bendigo Giant’, a story about cricketer, Billy Midwinter. As a piece of historical research ‘The Prince of Tobymen’, on the famed Eugowra Rocks robbery in 1862, is particularly finely done. This is a book with immediate appeal to readers who like their history to be parochial, entertaining and informative.