The Man Who Died Twice

The Man Who Died Twice is the compelling story of Morrison of Peking', who bestrode continents, helped bring down a dynasty and chronicled his times so brilliantly that he not only wrote history but changed it as well.

George Ernest Morrison's strong sense of courage and devotion to reporting the truth led him, at only 20, to expose the Australian Kanaka slave trade. He then walked, alone and unaided, from the Gulf of Carpentaria to Melbourne only 21 years after explorers Burke and Wills had perished in the same endeavour. And in attempting the first crossing of New Guinea, he was almost killed in an ambush which left two spear tips embedded in his body.

However, it was Morrison's work as a correspondent for the London Times in the decadent and dangerous Chinese capital at the turn of the century that brought him international fame, not least when he helped to organise the defence of the legations during the 55-day siege of the Boxer Uprising. Then, as adviser to the fledgling Chinese government, he was a pivotal figure in the fall of the last Emperor and the birth of the Chinese Republic.

Peter Thompson and Robert Macklin have written a powerful and gripping biography of an Australian journalist and adventurer who paused only to tell his stories and to plan his next foray among the great events and leading figures of his day.