false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173760532m/325092.jpg 325092 10 <p>It was 1786 when Arthur Phillip, an ambitious captain in the Royal Navy, was assigned the formidable task of organizing an expedition to Australia in order to establish a penal colony. The squalid and turbulent prisons of London were overflowing, and crime was on the rise. Even the hulks sifting at anchor in the Thames were packed with malcontent criminals and petty thieves. So the English government decided to undertake the unprecedented move of shipping off its convicts to a largely unexplored landmass at the other end of the world.<br><br>Using the personal journals and documents that were kept during this expedition, historian/novelist Thomas Keneally re-creates the grueling overseas voyage, a hellish, suffocating journey that claimed the lives of many convicts. Miraculously, the fleet reached the shores of what was then called New South Wales in 1788, and after much trial and error, the crew managed to set up a rudimentary yet vibrant settlement. As governor of the colony, Phillip took on the challenges of dealing with unruly convicts, disgruntled officers, a bewildered, sometimes hostile native population, as well as such serious matters as food shortages and disease. Moving beyond Phillip, Keneally offers captivating portrayals of Aborigines, who both aided and opposed Phillip, and of the settlers, including convicts who were determined to overcome their pasts and begin anew.<br><br>With the authority of a renowned historian and the narrative grace of a brilliant novelist, Thomas Keneally offers an insider&#8217;s perspective into the dramatic saga of the birth of a vibrant society in an unfamiliar land. <i>A Commonwealth of Thieves</i> immerses us in the fledgling penal colony and conjures up colorful scenes of the joy and heartbreak, the thrills and hardships that characterized those first four improbable years. The result is a lively and engrossing work of history, as well as a tale of redemption for the thousands of convicts who started new lives thousands of miles from their homes.</p> 2128299 2005 A Commonwealth of Thieves: The Improbable Birth of Australia total:65|5:2|4:27|3:28|2:5|1:3| 65 215 130 14 3 2 false false Wed Oct 15 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Oct 02 08:29:48 -0700 2008 Tue Oct 28 21:31:34 -0700 2008 1 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Aug 29 11:04:59 -0700 2008 Thu Dec 18 12:36:13 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Mar 06 13:39:33 -0800 2008 Tue Apr 15 08:18:15 -0700 2008 the first four years of Georgian Britain's Australian settlement -- the establishment of convicts at Sydney Cove. (Thanks, Lord Sydney!) The selection of period comes across as a bit arbitrary. It covers the term ...more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue May 06 19:05:51 -0700 2008 Tue May 06 19:17:08 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Aug 14 18:20:48 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 14 18:24:46 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 1 false false Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 24 16:15:20 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 12 15:40:03 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Mon Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Sep 22 10:14:40 -0700 2008 Tue Oct 07 07:11:39 -0700 2008 more...]]> 1 0 false false Wed Dec 26 07:59:29 -0800 2007 Wed Dec 26 08:01:07 -0800 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Jan 11 08:21:16 -0800 2008 Thu Jan 17 07:28:44 -0800 2008 4 0 false false Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 16 13:25:17 -0700 2008 Wed Sep 17 20:47:55 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Feb 17 03:13:07 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 17 03:14:58 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Mon Apr 07 16:49:26 -0700 2008 Thu Apr 10 07:22:26 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Wed Mar 12 06:24:08 -0700 2008 Wed Mar 12 06:24:27 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Thu Jun 11 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 08 07:51:13 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 11 06:58:30 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sun Nov 29 19:48:00 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 29 19:48:00 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Fri Nov 27 07:59:04 -0800 2009 Fri Nov 27 07:59:04 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Wed Nov 25 09:13:55 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 25 13:01:48 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Thu Nov 19 01:39:39 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 19 01:39:39 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Mon Nov 16 13:33:48 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 16 13:33:48 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Tue Nov 10 04:13:06 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 10 04:13:06 -0800 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=325092