The Fatal Shore
The Fatal Shore
paperback
Published:
2 January, 2003
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Description
A landmark history that confronts Britain’s colonisation of Australia.
In The Fatal Shore, historian and critic Robert Hughes offers a vivid, unflinching account of Britain’s colonisation of Australia; a history built on the forced transportation of convicts and the dispossession of Indigenous peoples. Drawing on meticulous research, Hughes recreates the harsh realities of the penal system, the endurance of those sent to the colonies, and the profound human cost of empire.
‘An enthralling account… brimming over with rare and pungent characters, and tales of pathos, bravery, and horror’ Peter Matthiessen
‘A unique phantasmagoria of crime and punishment, which combines the shadowy terrors of Goya with the tumescent life of Dickens' Peter Ackroyd, The Times
More Details
| Type | Book |
|---|---|
| ISBN13 | 9780099448549 |
| ISBN10 | 0099448548 |
| Number Of Pages | 720 |
| Item Weight | 572 g |
| Product Dimensions | 130 x 198 x 38 mm |
| Publisher / Reseller | Vintage Publishing |
| Format | paperback |
Media Reviews
A unique phantasmagoria of crime and punishment, which combines the shadowy terrors of Goya with the tumescent life of Dickens * Peter Ackroyd, The Times *
A triumph of research, passion and fine writing. I found it an extraordinary and compelling book to read, one of fantastic scope and imagination; truly a tour de force * William Shawcross *
Riveting * The Book Magazine *
With its mood and stature...The Fatal Shore is well on its way to becoming the standard opus on the convict years * Sydney Sunday Telegraph *
An enthralling account of the convict settlement of Australia, thoroughly researched and excellently written, brimming over with rare and pungent characters, and tales of pathos, bravery, and horror * Peter Matthiessen *
Popular history in the best sense...its attention to human detail and its commanding prose call to mind the best work of Barbara Tuchman * Washington Post *
GoodReads Reviews
Author's Bio
Robert Hughes, art critic of Time magazine and twice winner of the American College Art Association's F. J. Mather Award for distinguished criticism, is author of The Shock of the New, and of Heaven and Hell in Western Art. He is also author of the acclaimed Nothing if Not Critical, a work on Frank Auerbach; Barcelona, and Culture of Complaint, essays on the fraying of America. Robert Hughes died in August 2012.