Review: The Commonwealth Of Thieves
Editorial Review - Kirkus ReviewsA celebrated novelist (Schindler's List, 1982, etc.) and historian (American Scoundrel, 2002, etc.) writes the early history of the English settlers—the convicts and their keepers—of his native Australia. Keneally begins with a striking image from 1788: Eleven ships, crammed with criminals, tossing on the Pacific between Antarctica and the continent that will come to be known as Australia. The author tells the stories of those ships and passengers and offers illustrative and often illuminating commentary on subjects including the practice of transporting lawbreakers, life aboard an 18th-century ship, the flora and fauna of New South Wales and the culture of the aboriginal people who would see their way of life—thousands of years old—forever altered by disease and displacement and despair. Keneally excels in his descriptions of affairs on both sides of the world and in his mastery of both minor details and major concepts. He tells us, for example, that the aborigines could not say the letter s and that they practiced the ritual removal of an incisor from the jaws of young men coming of age; he also takes us through the political, sociological and economic forces in England that led authorities there to export their petty criminals. In many ways, this is the story of Arthur Phillip, a sturdy, judicious man who led the First Fleet and who remained in Australia through its very difficult and dangerous first years. (The Second and Third Fleets would arrive during his tenure.) Keneally ends his story with Phillip's departure and then in an epilogue lets us know the fates of most of the principal players. Among the more notable of these were William and Mary Bryant and their two children. Keneally distributes across several chapters the story of their remarkable open-boat escape from Australia to Timor (3,254 nautical miles). Only Mary survived the final leg of the journey to England, where James Bosworth, intrigued by her tale, gave her money and hope. Thoroughly researched, artfully written, engaging and instructive.
Review: A Commonwealth of Thieves: The Improbable Birth of Australia
User Review - Ruth Bonetti - GoodreadsI thought of buying this book as research for colonial history - topic of my next book - but so glad I borrowed it from the library instead. I had to renew it as it was such a struggle to plough ... Read full review
Review: A Commonwealth of Thieves: The Improbable Birth of Australia
User Review - Danielle - GoodreadsI'd been meaning to read this since it came out several years ago because the title sounds so interesting. Also, I have some ancestors who joined the LDS Church in Australia in the mid 1800s (preeety ... Read full review
Review: A Commonwealth of Thieves: The Improbable Birth of Australia
User Review - Gwen - GoodreadsFirst impression: this book reminded me a little of Battlestar Galactica's problems in establishing a new society so far removed from what they knew. How should we reestablish a civilization using our ... Read full review
Review: The Commonwealth of Thieves: The Story of the Founding of Australia
User Review - Tim Corke - GoodreadsFew have experienced the responsibility and authority to create a new colony. Fewer have experienced the creation of such a place on the opposite side of the world in a new land with the population ... Read full review
Review: A Commonwealth of Thieves: The Improbable Birth of Australia
User Review - Tracey - GoodreadsInterest in topic after reading The Wake of the Lorelei Lee: Being an Account of the Adventures of Jacky Faber, on her Way to Botany Bay Read full review
Review: A Commonwealth of Thieves: The Improbable Birth of Australia
User Review - Casey Wheeler - GoodreadsYears ago I read “The Fatal Shore” by Robert Hughes and felt like reading again about the beginning of the great British experiment that became Australia. This caused me to pick up this book. While ... Read full review
Review: A Commonwealth of Thieves: The Improbable Birth of Australia
User Review - Matthew - GoodreadsA very well written history of the founding of Australia. Too be honest there was nothing in here I had not read before. The author doesn't throq up any really novel interpretation of Australian ... Read full review
Review: A Commonwealth of Thieves: The Improbable Birth of Australia
User Review - Maureen - GoodreadsI wanted to know more about the founding of Australia Well, this is the book. But it only looks, in excruciating detail, at the first convict transports and their initial stabs at surviving in what we ... Read full review
Review: A Commonwealth of Thieves: The Improbable Birth of Australia
User Review - Wes - GoodreadsI got to meet Thomas Keneally shortly after reading this and told him how much I enjoyed it. He said "you must have been bored" Read full review
