Geoffrey Moorhouse's intention, as with his other books on Calcutta and New York, is to describe the city comprehensively and to explain in historical terms - from colonial beginnings - how it has come to be the way it is. The reader is guided through the history of Sydney from 1788 to 2000. In between, he describes and analyzes the life of Sydney as its inhabitants reach the 21st century. He studies the city's aboriginal community and its wealth of prehistoric art, its complex racial mix, its great sporting traditions, its cultural aspirations, its crucial function as a seaport, its cherished rivalry with Melbourne and its tremendous vitality...