Using documentary and oral evience, much of it previously unpublished, Henry Reynolds sets out the Aboriginal reactions to the coming of the Europeans to Australia. Contrary to conventional beliefs the Aborigines were not passive: they resorted to guerilla warfare, sorcery, theft of white settlers' goods, crops and animals, retribution and revenge sallies, and the adaptation of certain of the newcomers' ways. In presenting this material, Reynolds challenges us to reconsider not only our interpretaiton of our history, but also the implications for future relations between the peoples of Australia.