Ned Kelly was a dangerous man to be around. At Glenrowan, before the siege began, he was fiddling with a confiscated revolver when it accidentally discharged, wounding a hostage in the eye. That individual died months later in wretched circumstances.

The organised crime network of stock theft, of which the Kelly Gang was a major part, inspired community fear. But Ned's extended family also included violent individuals, such as the Quinn and Lloyd menfolk. Two brothers-in-law seriously injured a Senior Constable with a stirrup iron, one of them 'shouting like a madman'. An uncle avenged himself on a neighbour by hacking his horse to death with an axe. Crazed, violent men like these created a general climate of terror in north-east Victoria.

This controversial book re-examines the story of the Kelly Gang in fascinating detail and with many new insights. The mythology created by pro-Kelly writers is critically explored, unravelled, and often found wanting. Many missing official documents have been identified for the first time.

A pattern of extreme hostility against police emerges both before and after the Stringybark police murders.