Growing up, my friends and family would actively avoid studying, embracing or investigating Australia’s past in any way at all. This made me all the more determined to know what I was missing out on – and, boy, was I missing out on plenty! We all were. In preparation for my 2020 biography of Melbourne gangster Squizzy Taylor, I found it difficult to strip away my preconceived ideas about 1920s gangsters with flashy cars, pinstriped suits, cigars and fedora hats.
As I approach the publication of , I am excited because this will be the first
