This nationwide bestselling account of the founding of Australia is "a brilliant and enduring achievement . . . history of the highest order combining thorough research with vivid narrative and thoughtful assessment".--Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. Two 16-page black-and-white photo inserts.
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This nationwide bestselling account of the founding of Australia is "a brilliant and enduring achievement . . . history of the highest order combining thorough research with vivid narrative and thoughtful assessment".--Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. Two 16-page black-and-white photo inserts.
Read Less
Add this copy of The Fatal Shore: the Epic of Australia's Founding to cart. $0.99, fair condition, Sold by ZBK Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Woodland Park, NJ, UNITED STATES, published 1988 by Vintage.
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Fair. Used book-May contain writing notes highlighting bends or folds. Text is readable book is clean and pages and cover mostly intact. May show normal wear and tear. Item may be missing CD. May include library marks. Fast Shipping.
Add this copy of The Fatal Shore: the Epic of Australia's Founding to cart. $1.21, fair condition, Sold by Dream Books Co. rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Denver, CO, UNITED STATES, published 1988 by Vintage.
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Fair. This copy has clearly been enjoyed-expect noticeable shelf wear and some minor creases to the cover. Binding is strong and all pages are legible. May contain previous library markings or stamps.
Add this copy of The Fatal Shore: the Epic of Australia's Founding to cart. $1.37, good condition, Sold by Zoom Books Company rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Lynden, WA, UNITED STATES, published 1988 by Vintage.
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Book is in good condition and may include underlining highlighting and minimal wear. The book can also include From the library of labels. May not contain miscellaneous items toys dvds etc. We offer 100% money back guarantee and 24 7 customer service.
Add this copy of The Fatal Shore: the Epic of Australia's Founding to cart. $2.01, fair condition, Sold by Orion Tech rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Arlington, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1988 by Vintage.
Add this copy of The Fatal Shore: the Epic of Australia's Founding to cart. $2.19, very good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Atlanta rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Austell, GA, UNITED STATES, published 1988 by Vintage.
Add this copy of The Fatal Shore: the Epic of Australia's Founding to cart. $2.20, good condition, Sold by The Maryland Book Bank rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from baltimore, MD, UNITED STATES, published 1988 by Vintage.
Add this copy of The Fatal Shore: the Epic of Australia's Founding to cart. $2.75, very good condition, Sold by HPB-Ruby rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1988 by Vintage Books.
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Add this copy of The Fatal Shore: the Epic of Australia's Founding to cart. $3.00, very good condition, Sold by HPB-Emerald rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1988 by Vintage Books.
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Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Add this copy of The Fatal Shore: the Epic of Australia's Founding to cart. $3.00, very good condition, Sold by HPB-Ruby rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1988 by Vintage Books.
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Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Add this copy of The Fatal Shore: the Epic of Australia's Founding to cart. $3.00, very good condition, Sold by HPB-Diamond rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1988 by Vintage Books.
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Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
As luck would have it, I recently [2001] had the opportunity to make a brief business trip to Australia. I knew very little about Australia and thought the best way to get some brief but non-superficial background would be to learn something of its history. I opted to read Robert Hughes's book which tells the story of Australia's founding and of its convict past. The book is lengthy, even too lengthy to complete on the 14 hour flights from the West Coast of the United States to Sydney and back. But the story was fascinating, and the book was well worth the attention and effort.
Hughes tells the story of the discovery of Australia, the decision of Great Britain to "transport" its convicted to the continent, the various kinds of lives the convicts found there, the aboriginal settlers and their treatment by the newcomers, and the ultimate creation of a new society. There are harrowing accounts of the passage from Britain to Australia in the convict ships, and still shocking accounts of the secondary places of punishment created in Australia for repeat offenders -- places such as Norfolk Island, Port Aurthur, and Macquarrie Bay. Hughes describes these nineteenth century camps as precursors of the Gulag in our own time, and I am afraid he is correct. They reminded me to of Andersonville Prison in our own Civil War but on a much broader, more wicked scale. The description of the prisons and barbaric punishments were to me the most vivid portions of the book.
Besides the horror stories, there is a great deal of nuanced, thoughtful writing in the book about the settlement and building of Australia and of the dangers of facile over-generalization about how the convicts fared, or about virtually any other historical subject. Some were able to serve out their sentences and rise to prosperity and a new life. Others were shamefully abused. The history of the aboriginal peoples too is described and it is an unhappy subject, alas.
Hughes begins with the early days of the transport and concludes when the system was finally abolished in the 1850's as a result of protests and of the Australian gold rush.
After reading this book, I thought I had realized my goal of learning something of Australia. More importantly, I felt part of the land even though I hadn't seen it before and will likely never see it again. Places that I read about and that were only names took on character and importance.
I have read a substantial amount of United States history but hadn't read about Australia before. This book is well-documented, eloquently written and has a feel for the pulse of its subject. It is an outstanding work of history and is sure to broaden the human perspective of the reader.
Robin Friedman
maroubra
Nov 14, 2008
met expectations
Well written. I needed a dictionary next to me. A different perspective on English convict history. If you love to learn this is a wonderfully fulfilling book.
Gatortrapper
Oct 11, 2007
You'll Be Ready for an Australian History Test
I bought this book to read while I visited Australia and highly recommend it as explained below. This is indeed the preeminent work on the early history of Australia. Academic in style and presentation I recommend that a dictionary be at hand. Still, even though it is written by an academic the level of enlightening detail is so awesome that it is a must read if you want to know the real story of Australia. You will learn the political and social conditions in England that led to the transportation policy, first to the USA, and then after the Revolutionary War, to the far flung ?paradise? of Australia. It is incredible the amount of actual accounts from prisoners, free farmers (immigrants and prisoners whose sentences were completed) and the military and political representatives of the King that are included. Valuable data summaries and 80 plus pages of endnotes provide all the sources you will ever need. The description of the conditions of the various ?fleets? (the first few are merely referenced by number because they were so notorious), the theft of stores (food and clothing) by the shipping agents and ship crew, the inhumane conditions before and after being shipped of those transported. All this an much, much more. Again, a must read if you want to know about Australia.
CaptainFez
Apr 2, 2007
Australia's early brutality captured in full
Robert Hughes - better known to many as a respected art writer - tackles Australia's early history in The Fatal Shore. Being Australian, it is difficult to view this impartially, but it's a refreshing break from the often misguided painting of early migrants as all being hardworking, salt-of-the-earth people. There's bias and [quite possibly] factual error, but it presents a more fully-fleshed sense of the difficulties of birthing a colony - and a prison one at that. If you're looking for brutality, cannibalism and a good discussion of the problems found mapping gentility onto a place that was initially configured as an oubliette, this is your book. It's all told with Hughes' typical pugilistic erudition, and is as readily consuming as any airport fiction around.
