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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*.
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Summary: Australian history by an Australian
Review: An absolutley facinating history of Australia as it truly was; brutal, repressed and a perfect example of the short sighted colonial British empire. This is the history they do not teach us Australians as children, no founding fathers such as the Americans (that came in 1901 for us), no wars of independance, jus a brutal slave colony of the United Kingdom. Beautifully written from the first white discovery of this barren land. You Americans think your settlers had it tough, read this! Hardships greater than Russian prisons, where the white man was a slave not so different to the American negro. Learn something about the rest of the world. We did not have wild west, we had a wild continent.
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Summary: An unsurpassed record of Australia's convict history
Review: As a Tasmanian, I am well aware through association that a most terrible chapter of our early history was sadly missing in previously recorded historical research. Robert Hughes has succeeded in bridging this enormous and terrifying gap with his monumental work, The Fatal Shore. Hughes has managed to capture the sadism, the depravity, the abject horror of a shocking beginning of which few emerging nations can boast. His exacting and at times ground breaking research into convict history is magnificent, as is his fascinating portrayal of all manner of characters who emerged from the dung hill and cesspool that constituted everyday life in colonial Australia in the first instance. From the first convict ship to the last, he moves with methodical precission through the pages of history and its gory details. He truly exposes the establishment for what it really was, a cruel, corrupt and wicked system that made mockery of humanity. The early history of Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) is shocking and such was its infamy that the truth was hidden and locked away for all of 150 years from the general public. After many lesser attempts to update the record, Hughes has finally succeeded in swashbuckling fashion, laying bare the multitude of long dreaded sins and shame in a fashion which few others would have dared. I doubt that any author can better The Fatal Shore. The truth has been laid bare in as raw a form as could possibly be, and this account makes compelling reading for all manner of readers with an interest in such matters. A thoroughy fascinating read that I can absolutely recommend.
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Summary: A Historical Masterpiece
Review: As luck would have it, I recently 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.
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Summary: Clear insight into the complex and unique Australian story
Review: 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.
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Summary: Read also:
Review: Did you like the facts in 'The Fatal Shore'? Then you should also read 'His Natural Life' by Marcus Clarke. Though factfiction, this book goes on where Mr. Hughes' left us.
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Summary: A must read
Review: Enormously satisfying book that for me, filled in the gaps in my knowledge of Australian history, and was also a very enjoyable read. Hughes is not afraid to state that Australians have been ashamed of, and tried to hide the "convict stain". He even takes on the myth of sacred Gallipoli (1915) as our country's birth. As such this is a pivotal work for Australia, a book that can open people's eyes and minds. Hughes vividly portrays the terrible origins of the country, as a sewer for the poor in England's undeclared civil war against the lower classes. For me the appalling conditions of the penal colony and the miseries suffered there gave a good context for the even worse atrocities inflicted upon the aborigines. Guilt felt for these atrocities is rarely directed back at the government in England which orchestrated the colonies. The amazing pluck and will to survive of many individual convict stories is quite amazing. I was surprised at the extent of Irish involvement.
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Summary: The terror and personal drama that founded Australia
Review: Excellent book, which captures the spirit of English 17th & 18th society to tell the story of the founding of Australia.
Although the book is over 1000 pages thick it never becomes dull due to the many aspects that are discussed.
It covers broad aspects of the System (as deportation is called) from the living in a wilderness to the creating of a society and how the System shaped Australia's future. It also covers the small tales of individuals who played their parts in the new colony. The horror of the System, the hardship and the rewards, those who grabbed the opportunities provided and those who only fell deeper. Personal drama and a nations history! If you ever want to know anything about Australia and it's history then this is the book you have to read.
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Summary: A blunt, fascinating and amazingly well-done work of history
Review: Fatal Shore is a rare achievement in history writing: truly fascinating history by a wonderful writer. As a Time magazine writer and art critic, Robert Hughes obviously knows his way around the English language and shows it by crafting readable, entertaining history. But the book's true strength lies in Hughes' -- who is Australian -- brutally honest assessment of his country's fascinating founding. Hughes' voice makes the reader feel like he is getting Australia's story from the famously blunt lips of an Aussie over a few beers in an outback tavern. And why not? Good history SHOULD be brutally honest, not watered down with political correctness or the dry touch of an academic. Particularly strong are sections in which Hughes tears down the fiction -- created by Australians as an defensive reflex against their less-than-proud background -- which says the country's first convict citizens were mostly unjustly convicted and primarily political prisoners. The book is peppered throughout with gritty anecdotes and based on solid and extensive research. I had no idea Australia's founding was this interesting. Hughes shows us what an incredible tale it really was.
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