“Carn” tells the story of the Victorian Football League, and its successor, the Australian Football League, from 1897 to the present day, by focusing on 57 of the thousands of games that have been played down those decades. Some of these matches have been significant to Australian football. Some have reflected something about Australia as a whole. Some have just been weird, ridiculous or splendid. The game is only a game – but a game which consumes so much of the nation’s attention cannot help but reflect something of the nation’s character. Like the game – and the nation – it describes, “Carn” is replete with glorious yarns and extraordinary people.

"Andrew Mueller writes about the Australian game with the clear-eyed, artful purpose of Gary Ablett Jnr gliding through a forest of grasping tacklers. He navigates through moments in the game’s history to explore the spirit and absurdity of a brutal ballet that has held generations of Australians in its thrall."
- Francis Leach

"Consistent with the character of the game, it is both the homage of a larrikin and a true believer. . . Mueller has an aptly ironic style that captures the characters and tone of the game."
- The Age

". . . and that story is just in a footnote. Seriously, if a footnote is that entertaining, just imagine what the rest of the book is like."
- The Illawarra Mercury

"All the flavours of the human condition are sampled in 'Carn' and for me this is the greatest strength of the book."
- Shoot Farken

"A remarkable, trivia-filled and often side-splittingly funny history of not only Australian Rules but its relationship with this country. There is so much in this that I read it slowly, loving every page of it."
- Rhythms