Rum Rebellion will prove to be the keystone to that literary arch which certain lovers of historic truth have been erecting to the memory of William Bligh. It is not only a vindication of the Governor: it is also a scorching indictment of his bitter enemy John Macarthur. Here for the first time the whold of the available evidence of the historic clash that culminated in the Rum Rebellion and Bligh's overthrow, is arranged in ordered sequence, and examined and annotated by a first-class legal mind. And as one reads, it becomes abundantly clear that only such a mind could have adequately performed the task. From Mr C. Hartley Grattan;s Foreword: "Mr Justic Evatt's study of William Bligh's career in New South Wales is of such a unique character that it would be highly impertinent for any one not equally learned in the law to do more than circle around the fringe of it - in a 'Foreword' or elsewhere. "The core of the book is to be found in the chapters dealing with the various court cases that marked the clash between the embattled monopolists and Governor Bligh who stood as representative of the English Governmetn and the policy it had laid down for him to execute. By thus concentrating upon a section of the story that no mere layman would attempt to expound and judge, Mr Justice Evatt has made a signal contribution to the story of William Bligh and to Australian history. There is one aspect of the purely legal side of this book that is of the first importance and which can be commented on by a layman. Mr Justice Evatt shows clearly that the law can become a weapon in the social struggle and the courts a battleground of opposing class interests on which justice is weighted in favour of one side. This fascinating book offers an exceptional opportunity, also, to study one of the most complex social struggles that ever took place on so confined a stage, and to reflect upon the nature of two extraordinary individuals who would have been outstanding on any stage - William Bligh and John Macarthur.'