THE DRIVEN

Five strangely memorable, clone-mouthed men, two ""whitefellers"" and three ""blackfellers"" her a large ""mob of bullocks"" out of the Australian North West to the roads in the south in the 1930's. The drive lasts several months, and at its end Tom, the newcomer, has won the respect of old John Napier, the other white man. While this is the actual narrative of the book, it to implemented tersely, almost grudgingly, with the histories of each man and drives them while they drive the cattle: John had lost his wife and his dreams of a ranch of his own; the younger men, like Tom, wander across the enormous, enigmatic continent in search of any kind of work; the Aborigines drift between two irreconcilable traditions, the European and their own. There is a stampede, a fall from a horse, even a fight, but none of these dominates (nor is meant to) the plodding but fascinating day by day account of work and sweat and well earned rest. The lasting impression is created by the land, the prime driver of all.....An utterly honest picture of first hand experience, and there are passages within balling distance of such classics as Parkman's Oregon Trail.