Rating: 
Summary: Silver and Currency
Review: *The Fatal Shore* was originally recomended when I entered the criminal justice field, and is one of the few books I've ever read in one sitting. Once I had started it was impossible to put down. It is fascinating not only as an account of the founding of a nation, but as a history of prisons and prison reform, and also represents powerful argument against the notion of a "criminal class." It also highlights the differences between the three primary "settler societies:" Canada, the US, and Australia, as settled respectively by upper, middle, and working class British emigrants. It also places in context the current "nativist" struggles over the influx of the Asian diaspora. For a more traditional, but no less interesting, discussion of English settler societies see S.M. Lipset's *Continental Divide* or *The First New Nation*.
Rating:
Summary: Silver and Currency
Review: *The Fatal Shore* was originally recomended when I entered the criminal justice field, and is one of the few books I've ever read in one sitting. Once I had started it was impossible to put down. It is fascinating not only as an account of the founding of a nation, but as a history of prisons and prison reform, and also represents powerful argument against the notion of a "criminal class." It also highlights the differences between the three primary "settler societies:" Canada, the US, and Australia, as settled respectively by upper, middle, and working class British emigrants. It also places in context the current "nativist" struggles over the influx of the Asian diaspora. For a more traditional, but no less interesting, discussion of English settler societies see S.M. Lipset's *Continental Divide* or *The First New Nation*.
Rating:
Summary: Best Social History of Australia/Georgian England
Review: Hughes has done the nearly impossible-written a page turner of a social history. Roughly the first third of the book is in fact mostly about Georgian England and the "Hogarthian" conditions that led to the system of transprtation, the "First Fleet" and the founding of Australia. He amply demonstrates one of his basic theses: Australia conclusively disproves the genetic theory of transmission of criminal behavior: the continent was first populated by 160,000 theives, burglars, pickpockets & etc., and eventually became one of the most respectable, law abiding societies on earth. His other pregnant conclusion, that the Australian sublimation of the "convict stain" of their past kept Austrailians from coming to terms with their convict origins until the last 20-30 years seems spot on. The book is full of colorful characters, glorious detail and paints a panorama of a system and a period in the history of two societies that deserves a careful read from anyone even vaguely interested in either country, penology or just cracking good social history. I loved it!
Rating:
Summary: Definitive
Review: Hughes has written the definitive work on the founding of the British colony in Australia. He spends just enough time discussing the social woes of the United Kingdom that lead to the founding, and provides an excellent counter to attempts to glorify Australia's past. There is no sensationalism in this book. The nature and behavior of the prisoner-colonists is depcited without shame or apology. Rich language, historical integrity, and some excellent maps make this book a great read.
Rating: 
Summary: History Well Told
Review: Hughes' account of Australia's early history is solidly researched, informative, and entertaining (albeit shocking, and disheartening). Hughes is to be commended for eschewing the prevailing revisionism in Australian historiography and taking his subject head on. Were I able to, I would give Fatal Shore 4.5 stars. My only criticism is that Hughes' thematic approach is at times a bit repetitive and yields a somewhat confusing chronological picture. Overall, however, Fatal Shore is a terrific piece of social, political, and institutional history. An important read.
Rating:
Summary: RH's "The Fatal Shore" made learning history a pleasure!
Review: I have travelled to Australia, thus far, eight times since 1990. In all of my travels I have focused on learning the evolutionary significance of Australia's fascinating fauna, as well as the the culture of its people, past and present. But in all of my travels in Australia (I have yet to go to Tasmania) I have never learned so much about its people (non-Aboriginal) and their colonization, as I have from reading The Fatal Shore. I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, a historian or even one who "likes" history. But Robert Hughes's book was so well written, and so insightful, that I can truly say I could not put it down. What I learned from this book really put my travels to Australia in perspective, and it made me want to learn so much more. If I could, I would give this book ten stars! This book is an absolute must-read for anyone who is interested in travel to Australia, or wants simply to learn about Australia's fascinating, albeit horrific, past. Robert Hughes has quite a talent for impecable research as well as for bringing his readers into the heart of unimaginable horrors. Australians need not be ashamed of their past (as is implied in the book) - on the contrary - they should relish in their success as a colorful and awe-inspiring nation (which is something they already do)!
Rating:
Summary: A Worthy Entry in the Annals of Crime and Punishment
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Writing, Highly Recommended
Review: On the book jacket, a reviewer said that it was one of the best non-fiction books he had ever read, and I would have to agree. The convict past of Australia is not a topic that has much written about it, and Hughes' book will become the benchmark for all to come. Hughes has made the past come alive. The characters are larger than life: the man flogged 2000 times, the prison warden who walked among his prisoners and insulted them, etc. The best part of the history for me was Hughes' continual use of primary source material, such as songs of the time period and journals of the convicts. These items, along with the great writing made it very hard to put down. Highly recommended for those interested in traveling to Australia, or those wanting to know more of its history
Rating:
Summary: Early Oz
Review: This book is the gruelling story of the transportation of convicts from Britain to Australia, told at great length and in great detail. It's also the story of the birth of what might be termed modern Australian history - that is, from the start of the European presence in Australia. Hughes also examines the social history of Britain from the late eighteenth century to mid-nineteenth century - in particular, its criminology. And it's right that British social history should be assessed in this book, because I thought that transportation could not be understood in full without that context. The book was all the better for that. Were I to be churlish, I should point out that the Irish experience is slightly underplayed (but not overlooked) - one could view the Irish angle as more political than social - but as I said, that would be over-critical. Among the tales of shocking brutality, there are great escape stories, assessments of the British officials who were brave and humane enough to attempt reform, and an assessment of the effect of the transportation system upon both the Australian psyche and upon the Aborigines. Fascinating though all this is, I thought that Hughes had a tendency to depart from strict chronology. By that I mean that as one particular aspect of the story engaged his interest, he told it to completion. Frequently at the beginning of the next chapter I had to "leap backwards in time" as Hughes looked at another part of the history. This can be disorientating, but I tried to approach the book as a series of extended essays on transportation and Australian history. This worked for me. Perhaps Hughes's method was as good as the conceivable alternatives given the structure of the history he was dealing with.
Rating:
Summary: A must read for non-fiction lovers
Review: This colorful and splendidly researched history of Australia's founding is breathtaking in its scope. The book is not only a story of Australia's beginnings, but an impressively researched history on the political pressures in England that led to the founding of Australia as a penal colony and of the struggles over penal reform. Perhaps most fascinating, and Hughes never fails to communicate his own sense of fascination, is the microcosm Australia offers as a society founded from wholecloth and how it evolved into a complex society. I read this book right after reading Son of the Morning Star (another superb book) and was very much struck between the parallels between how Americans who settled the West viewed and treated Native Americans and the Australian settlers' views of the aborigines whom they slowly but surely displaced. The wonderful stories would stand on their own even if ineptly told, but they really come alive with Hughes' writing style, which would be the pride of any novelist...Bravo!
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