As former prime minister Jim Bolger writes about his friend of 40 years in the book's Foreword: "You don't have to be a romantic for the land and life distant from city and town lights to find this book inspirational." The Way It Was is the down-to-earth, very readable story of Tom Brough - man of many parts. After a challenging childhood in the King Country backblocks and minimal schooling, Tom Brough became a Golden Shears Open Champion (shearing a million sheep along the way), King Country Farmer-of-the-Year (turning unproductive country into a model farm) and noted hunter (pigs and deer in New Zealand and more exotic animals in Finland, Namibia and Mongolia). A committed family man as well, three children and eight grandchildren are an important part of Tom and Larraine Brough's busy lives.