Almanac Book Review: ‘The One Indiscretion of His Life’ by Gideon Haigh
That prolific polymath Gideon Haigh has just produced another book. He has written well over forty and shows no signs of slowing down. The latest, a biography of the top-level footballer and working class wicket-keeper/batter, William Barlow Carkeek, is a gem. I suspect I am not the only contributor to the Almanac who had never heard of the man even though he played Test cricket for Australia in England alongside some of the acknowledged greats of the game before the First World War and football for Richmond in the Victorian Football Association and Essendon in the Victorian Football League between 1899 and 1907.
I have always been a little leery about the egalitarian myths surrounding Australian cricket, as compared with rampant class distinctions of the English game. The absence of Indigenous cricketers in state and national teams is something I had come to understand after reading Bernard Whimpress and my own research on nineteenth century Indigenous sportsmen. Carkeek’s life as told by Gideon Haigh adds another dimension, without simplifying relationships or reductionism. Working class cricketers were relatively rare at the top levels of the game around the turn of the twentieth century.
As with all Gideon’s recent self-published books the production is beautiful and makes you want to delve into the contents immediately and persist with the evocative writing till the end. He tells me he had only three weeks to research the work! The result is a work of art as well as splendid history and biography.
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I recently read Gideon’s 49th book “The Girl in Cabin 350”. I believe the Carkeek book is his 50th. His recent self published books and Substack output are a rare gift.
Cabin 350 was labelled as “true crime” but I found it entrenching social history. I suspect the Carkeek book is the same. In turning his razor intellect and narrative gifts on our past, he suggests our modernity is a thin veneer. Lord of the Flies.
Do yourself a favour. The book production is outstanding in a hardback format with a striking dust jacket and generous layout. Leave them on the coffee table and friends will automatically rate your IQ 10 points higher!