Product Description

In 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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15201 in Books
• Published on: 2003-01-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 748 pages

Washington Post
‘Popular history in the best sense…its attention to human detail and its commanding prose call to mind the best work of Barbara Tuchman’

Sydney Sunday Herald
‘With its mood and stature…The Fatal Shore is well on its way to becoming the standard opus on the convict years’

Susan Sontag
‘The Fatal Shore is a great achievement’

Customer Reviews

A fantastic insight into the forgotten British gulags
I studied English history for many years at school, and not once was the shameful secret of transportation mentioned in the syllabus. The scale of cruelty and barbarism described by Hughes in some parts of the Colony is staggering, but what strikes most about the book is its evenhandness. The convicts' backgrounds and unconventional social mores are fully investigated, as is their treatment at the hands of unknowing and uncaring British petty colonialists. What are more uncertain are Hughes' assertions about the effect of the convict past on the Australian character of today - is the convict past really an issue in Australian social politics (other than a friendly taunt to visiting pommies)? Still, an enthralling, deeply moving and informative read, a must for students of English or Australian history, or visitors to Australia.

Fascinating
I read this during a year working in Sydney and couldn't put it down (which says a great deal for a work of non-fiction!). The descriptions of the hardships faced by convicts were so vivid that I went to see many of the places for myself. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

Well worth the read.
This book is an excellent read, both accessible and fluid in its writing as well as detailed and well researched.
I'm sure that this book will be an invaluable resource for those studying or interested in the transportation process and Australian history in general.
While the main focus is on the penal colonies, the book opens with fascinating insights into both the Aboriginal group around Sydney harbour at the time and also the Georgian "Working" and "criminal" class. Both of which give depth and range to the subject at hand.
Being a history teacher myself I can recommend this book for teachers who are looking for something new and interesting to spice up the industrial revolution. And for the general reader I would recommend this book as a fascinating and balanced insight into a very different world. One that is both part of and a world away from the Georgian world we so often hear about.