The Fatal Shore - BookWyrm

electronic resource

English language

Published May 17, 2010 by Random House Group Limited.

ISBN:: 978-1-4070-5407-0
OCLC Number:: 665965720

(1 review)

An extraordinary vivid yet authentic account of the birthpangs of a nation. A work of real distinction' Philip ZieglerIn 1787, the twenty-eighth year of the reign of King George III, the British Government sent a fleet to colonize Australia-An epic description of the brutal transportation of men, women and children out of Georgian Britain into a horrific penal system which was to be the precursor to the Gulag and was the origin of Australia. The Fatal Shore is the prize-winning, scholarly, brilliantly entertaining narrative that has given its true history to Australia.

3 editions

otrops reviewed Fatal Shore by Robert Hughes

Review of 'Fatal Shore' on 'Storygraph'

4 stars

A history of the convict transporation system. It gives a good understanding of how and why the system came about; how it contributed to and the influence it had on Australia; and why it finally ended. Along the way, Hughes has uncovered hundreds of letters and used those to put together fascinating character sketches of the people responsible for building Australia.

Definitely worth the read. It is an excellent popular history. There are some quirky moments when the art historian in Hughes comes to the fore, but that's part of what I enjoyed about the book.