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Title: The Fatal Shore : The epic of Australia's founding by Robert Hughes ISBN: 0-394-75366-6 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 12 February, 1988 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.28 (40 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: "The Fatal Shore" must not be missed
Comment: You could not write fiction that is as entertaining as Robert Hughes' excellent research on the founding and colonization of Australia. This is one of the best historical pieces written regarding British social evolution in the 1700's ~ from the vantage point of being entertaining, usefully informative, and engaging. Excellent commentary on why "transportation" happened as it did, and why Australia became the destination ~ the reasons are social, cultural, as well as political. And fun facts abound ~ the British Colonies in America preceded Australia as the British destination for transported convicts (albeit in a different model), Norfolk Island had immense and surprising strategic value for all world navies because of two critical resources, the perception of Australia in the 1700's was far from glowing for many reasons, etc. If a history book can be a page-turner, this is the one that proves the rule.
Rating: 5
Summary: Clear insight into the complex and unique Australian story
Comment: At this time of focused international interest in Australia, it is incumbent upon any thoughtful reader to view this diverse and exciting continent through the lense of Hughes' profound history of the nation's founding. I have never been to Australia, but have known several individuals who came to America for education and career reasons. At first blush, it might seem to an American that Australia shares much common experience with our own: British colonial origins, settlement of a vast western frontier, the oppression of an indigenous people, strong Judeo-Christian traditions, etc. These factors are all present. However, understanding the differences between the Australian and American experiences must start with an appreciation of the role that the English "transportation" system played in shaping Australia. There is no better treatment of this subject than "The Fatal Shore." It is truly a great cultural history of Australia's beginning.
Rating: 4
Summary: A Worthy Entry in the Annals of Crime and Punishment
Comment: I read this book in anticipation of a trip to Australia, and indeed it was an excellent backdrop to travel there. But it proved to be much more: a deep insight into the genesis and nature of institutional evil, with its low-key, meticulous depiction of the brutality and sadism visited upon Australia's transportee convicts. Anyone who contemplates the Holocaust or any other of humankind's planned atrocities must wonder at the essential question of how bascially sane people end up doing such horrendous things, with state sanction. Hughes' book illustrates how overly rigid, rationalistic bureaucracies, implementing theoretical constructs about human behavior without having to face the immediate consequences, tend toward sadism and self-justifying cruelties. His book is of great value not only to students of Australia, or of history, but to anyone in the criminal justice field, law enforcement, or penology.
Oh, and the book also is extremely sound, well researched and documented, and well written. This is not a quick read, but it is a rewarding one.
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Title: In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson ISBN: 0767903862 Publisher: Broadway Pub. Date: 15 May, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: A Concise History of Australia by Stuart Macintyre ISBN: 0521625777 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: January, 2000 List Price(USD): $21.00 |
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Title: The Explorers: Stories of Discovery and Adventure from the Australian Frontier by Tim F. Flannery ISBN: 0802137199 Publisher: Grove Press Pub. Date: 30 October, 2000 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Australia : True Stories of Life Down Under (Travelers' Tales) by Larry Habegger ISBN: 1885211406 Publisher: Travelers' Tales Inc Pub. Date: January, 2000 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: One for the Road : Revised Edition by Tony Horwitz ISBN: 0375706135 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 05 October, 1999 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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