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Binding: PaperbackDewey Decimal Number: 994 EAN: 9780394753669 ISBN: 0394753666 Label: Vintage Books Manufacturer: Vintage Books Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 752 Publication Date: February 12, 1988 Publisher: Vintage Books Release Date: February 12, 1988 Studio: Vintage Books Editorial Review: Amazon.com: An extraordinary volume--even a masterpiece--about the early history of Australia that reads like the finest of novels. Hughes captures everything in this complex tableau with narrative finesse that drives the reader ever-deeper into specific facts and greater understanding. He presents compassionate understanding of the plights of colonists--both freemen and convicts--and the Aboriginal peoples they displaced. One of the very best works of history I have ever read. Product Description: The history of the birth of Australia which came out of the suffereing and brutality of England's infamous convict transportation system. With 16 pages of illustrations and 3 maps. Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Sets The Standard"The Fatal Shore" by Robert Hughes is the one book which is always mentioned when it comes to books about the history of Australia, and for good reason. Hughes' brilliant work covers in great detail the transportation of criminals from England to Australia, and the history of those penal colonies. He also deals with the historical figures and events which impacted those colonies. Prior to this work, Robert Hughes had authored books on art, and is generally known as an art critic ... Read More Rating: - A magnificent achievementRobert Hughes has written a towering account of the years during which Britain transported convicts to Australia, thereby beginning the colonization of a continent that would one day hold a place among the world's free nations. Hughes's fascinating text covers the exaggerated fear of a "criminal class" that, along with hopes of establishing a colonial presence in the region, caused England to spend so much treasure on the system of transportation. We also get much fascinating information about ... Read More Rating:  - exaggerated emphasis on bloodThere's no doubt that the lash and hangman's rope played an important role in early New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania). About 1830, the death rate by execution was about 1 per 1000 of the European population of NSW (30 per year out of 30,000). The first criminal trial in Australia led to a sentence of 150 lashes for being drunk and abusive. Thus began the operation of law in Australia, only a fortnight after the colony commenced. But a few months later, in Cable v Sinclair, two young ... Read More Rating:  - Very Enlightening ReadIn short this book has taught me a great deal about the history of Australia and I totally disagree with other reviews that make out it is biased in some way. Found the book to be frank, open, honest and to the point. BTW even though the book is very thick it was not a chore to read and finish. Rating: - Cultural Amnesia The Fatal Shore: The Epic of Australia's Founding By Robert Hughes Australia is one of those faraway places you read about in National Geographic or watch on Discovery. Remote, exotic, modern yet solidly based in its history, it's a chamber of commerce promotion writer's dream. T he only country to occupy an entire continent... spanning from the Pacific to the Indian Oceans; sophisticated and modern along the coast with Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane; forbidding and ... Read More |
