More than a biography, Big Jim , is a story of an exciting and turbulent era in the development of the Alice Springs and Darwin. After many years of research, and innumerable interviews with those who played a part, Peter Simon has crafted a work which rightly celebrates the life of a character among characters who, as editor first of the Centralian Advocate then the Northern Territory News , had an enormous impact Northern Territory but particularly its two biggest towns, on the social development of both towns. But more, his crusading campaigns had a national impact in such areas as Aboriginal Affairs and the White Australia Policy. In his eulogy on Jim Bowditch's death, lawyer John Waters, often his mouthpiece in court appearances, wrote: "He coloured and enriched the lives of all of us and in fundamental ways he helped change the society we live in". We will not see his like again.