The Illustrated Biography.
On 27 August 1983 it became seventy-five years since "The Don" was born into a farming family at Yeo Yeo, New South Wales. This biography is a commemorative tribute, the "birthday biography", of Sir Donald Bradman, based on his lifetime collection of personal material - including letters, documents, photographs and scrapbooks dating back to his earliest days - and on interviews with the great batsman. Sir Donald himself checked the entire text of the book.
This biography gives a fully-rounded portrait of Sir Donald's life and career, from the days when he was a youthful country cricketer, through the years when he dominated the Test arena, to his achievements as the "elder statesman" of Australian cricket. The selection of illustrations - over 300 black and white photographs - of which the majority have never been published before, add a new dimension to the Bradman story.
The narrative deals with the problems and controversies of his life under the spotlight of publicity, including the bodyline battles; with his conquest of physical disabilities, which threatened to bring a premature end to his cricket career; and with his successful efforts to create business and family life separate from the demands of cricket. Essentially, this book shows how a great sportsman may also be a great gentleman; an inspiration to countless admirers and an upholder of the traditional values of life and sport.
The structure of the book, comprising many separate articles apart from the principal text, gives you an illuminating insight into cricketing and social life during Sir Donald's career, and shows the ways in which the public and newspapers of the period regarded him. This new biography is both a valuable addition to cricketing history and the human story of a great Australian legend.
