The remarkable stories in Born Into This are eye-opening, razor-sharp and entertaining, often all at once. From an Aboriginal ranger trying to instil some pride in wayward urban teens on the harsh islands off the coast of Tasmania, to those scraping by on the margins of white society railroaded into complex and compromised decisions, Adam Thompson presents a powerful indictment of colonialism and racism. With humour, pathos and the occasional sly twist, Thompson's characters confront discrimination, untimely funerals, classroom politics, the ongoing legacy of cultural destruction and – overhanging all like a discomforting, burgeoning awareness for both white and black Australia – the inexorable disappearance of the remnant natural world.