TREAD SOFTLY FOR YOU TREAD ON MY LIFE is that rare book - for the general reader and the writer, the researcher and the academic. Michael King tells riveting stories as he considers questions which beset all intelligent writers and readers. What should biographers especially bear in mind? What is compassionate truth? What does one owe to one's subjects - and to one's readers? These collected writings roam far and wide. Be it humour and the commonplace made more memorable, a refreshing look at race relations, portraits of extraordinary New Zealanders, or his own candid and always humane credo, King as historian, biographer and essayist combines firm and fresh judgements with common humanity.