I found this book in a second hand book shop, and never having read much about this particular NZ politician I thought I'd give it a go. Granted, his politics are not mine so that could be colouring my reaction, but it's not the best autobiography I've ever read. I think in some ways it's both too detailed and not detailed enough. Muldoon seems to reference half the people he's ever met, from horticultural society to Parliament, and considering that the time period being written about takes place before I was born, nearly all of them are unfamiliar. I expect to his contemporaries, this was a more interesting tactic, but from my perspective less people, more fully covered would have been more successful. As it is, the coverage of events is rather superficial - in many cases, events described seemed more of a sparsely fleshed out list than anything else, which I found frustrating to read.

That being said, there are still some elements of interest. Muldoon's known for being a combative character, and that does come through in entertaining fashion. I note that not two paragraphs into the book, he's diverged from family history to grumbling about unions, so clearly he can't help himself! And every so often, buried in the text, surfaces a remark so dryly witty that I laughed out loud. Clearly an interesting man, whatever you think of his politics, but I do wish this book had more of the man coming through.