The Fatal Shore: The authoritative history of the British colonisation of Australia.
Feb 2010 · Random House
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20 reviews
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720
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About this ebook
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
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 pe...
Ratings and reviews
20 reviews
John Greentree
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February 16, 2025
I've read this book 4 or 5 times now. A thorough analysis of the history of transportation to Australia and the impact this had both on the people who inhabited the country and the people transported to it. Some of the words and grammar used are difficult to pronounce and understand given my level of intelligence (thank you google dictionary 😀).
Mark Cunningham
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July 5, 2019
A very long winded account, with a good deal of opinion.
1 person found this review helpful
Thomas Petitt
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March 9, 2017
Worth a read if you're interested in Australian history
1 person found this review helpful
About the author
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.
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 Fra...
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