The Fatal Shore: The Epic of Australia's Founding by Robert Hughes Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Fatal Shore: The Epic of Australia's Founding
Book Review: The Fatal Shore by Robert Hughes
Summary: 5 Stars
I am Naomi Stanley Mrs. DanielI am still in the process of reading this book. I have had it for ages and have not just devoted my time to it. I love Australia with all my heart and soul. Since a little girl and I loved geography and when I learned about Australia, I have wanted to go there. I really do like this book and I like Robert Hughes, yes he is a grouch like me. Maybe he has a reason to be grouchy. Who knows. Did you see his series on PBS b/4 the Olympics. Fabulous.
We got our chance to go to Australia in April 96 through July 18, 96. We did not want to leave. I would have stayed and just forgot my junk in Texas. They wouldn't let me stay, we are to old, unless you have lots and lots of money. It's the medical system. You would have to be able to pay for bad health. The people are the best on earth. I have dear, dear friends there forever. We talk all the time and e-mail also. If only 30 years ago we had sense enough we could have applied to move there. You would not believe how we were invited to go there and no room here to say. My husband insisted we go back Sept.3. 97. We should have waited. Diana had just died and it was really a sad time. And it was too soon after we were there. We went for 6 months but came home Dec 1. You talk about heat. I thought Texas gets hot. I don't know how they stand it. I suggest anyone that wants to see scenery, unusual animals, great people to go there. March through November. The rest is really hot. We were fortunate to have people to stay with while there. It is expensive but you get more of their money for ours. However, when you get home and re convert what you have left you lose a lot. It is worth every dollar. I never met a hateful person in 90 days each time. We went to Melbourne, Sydney, Cairns, Canberra, Kuranda and in between. South Australia, Adelaid, Kangaroo Island. Tasmania-what a place. Please save your money and go to the most beautiful place on the face of the earth.
Thank you Robert Hughes for telling us the story of the land that only God could have made. There are so many untold stories it would take the rest of our forest's to tell them.
The tour guides are so informed you just stand with your mouth open listening to them. They are proud of their country. They do not feel any shame. They should not feel any shame. AND DON'T forget if America hadn't already been taken, those ssame prsoners would have been sent here. Personally, I think we would have been better off for it. The place to hear history is go to Port Arthur and take the tours. Take your hankies.
Thanks for listening.
Naomi Stanley Dallas, Texas DJS2001@att.net
GOD BLESS AUSTRALIA!
Robert Hughes what the devil are you doing living in New York, YUK!
Book Review: incredibly entertaining and inspiring page turner
Summary: 5 Stars
Let me just say that i never read a book that's more than 200 pages and i don't care a lick about history. Yet i COULD NOT put down this 600 plus page book on australia's founding until i finished it! it, to me, is an incredible story about the human spirit in the face of suffering the likes of any work by Solzhenitzyn (which i also love). the description of how the founder-prisoners were cruelly treated by their fellow brits is really a study in evil. i don't know or care if the "statistical figures" add up for all the historical bean counters out there. this is an extremely entertaining as well as inspiring work.Book Review: A Crabby Book
Summary: 1 Stars
Hughes is a compulsive and bitter man. His book on Australia shows Australians as bigots. Read his section on immigration. If the majority of Australians are bigots how did their elected politicians pass legislation that expanded immigration to non-English and non-Europeans and remain in power?
Perhaps the explanation of Hughes anger is that he enjoys it. What would he do in Utopia?
Book Review: The best history of convict Australia you will ever read
Summary: 5 Stars
I am an Australian. I am also descended from a convict.I knew very little about the convict experience in Australia apart from the story of the First Fleet which arrived in Sydney in 1788.
I have been to Tasmania and visited Port Arthur, the remnants of the convict prison. It is a ghostly, sad place, very reminiscient of European concentration camps.
Often convicts were sent to Australia for doing nothing but stealing a piece of bread. Robert Hughes' absorbing book is a poignant testimonial to their story. You will find no better book about early Australian convict history than this one.
Book Review: Clear insight into the complex and unique Australian story
Summary: 5 Stars
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.