A Commonwealth of Thieves: The Improbable Birth of Australia

As a UIL Social Studies coach, I have been required to read several assigned texts, and this year's text "A Commonwealth of Thieves" is chock full of information and is (perhaps more importantly) interesting. There have been a few texts before that read like encyclopedias and were a chore to use, this book has a good index and reads a little like a novel. The author has written fiction before and that shows. He also is renowned as the author of "Schindler's List". His skill as an author shows as the main characters are fleshed out as best as the historical record allows, and the narrative has a decent flow to it. I didn't know much about that era or that part of the world other than the basic skeleton of it all and am glad to have read it. I think the kids will enjoy it. The book primarily focuses on the First Fleet of sailors, marines, and British convicts that set up the first European colony on Australia, near what would become present day Sydney. The book concludes with the first governor, Governor Phillip returning to England (along with an epilogue sewing up all the primary characters' lives). I would recommend it, and although there is some frank discussion of what occurred between the male and female convicts (and soldiers) as well as between the Aborigines and the English, high school age students would be okay in reading it.

It's maddening to read Kenneally's text because you get the sense he's trying so hard for style points that it gets in the way of simple, clear sentences that convey meaningful things. That pretentiousness makes the book hard to enjoy, at least for me. Commonwealth of Thieves is, at least on the surface, an attempt at a social history, but it never really gets very far beneath the surface of the handful of diaries and court records that he uses as primary sources. Large sections of the book read like an endless procession of anecdotes, and it doesn't seem as if there's any attempt to bind these together in the attempt to make any sort of historical point. The individuals, too, are rarely portrayed as being anything but two-dimensional post-colonial caricatures. The British officials are faceless bureaucrats. The prisoners and sailors are peons under the boot of the system, flawed but naturally good. The preacher has delicate sensibilities, which we're supposed to find humorous. The natives are wise in their ancient simplicity. You know the drill: villains and victims. If you want a history that sticks close to the vest of post-colonial stereotypes, then Kenneally wont' be too objectionable for you. If you want a book that explores tough questions or that evaluates the meaning of its content, then this book will leave you disappointed.

Everyone knows about the "convicts" that formed the nucleus of Australia's earliest settlers. Keneally gives us an introduction to the people themselves, what their lives had been like in England, the dangers and challenges they faced to start new lives on what must have seemed a different planet to then. This is an exceptional tale of Humans living on the edge and learning to make the best of it.

Take a motley assortment of thugs, thieves, pickpockets, and prostitutes guarded by a company of red-coated marines and supervised by a handful of bickering officers, set them down half a world away on an unexplored continent, and what do you have? The beginning of a new nation, Australia. Thomas Keneally, author of "Shindler's List" and other books, relates the curious enterprise based on official records and personal journals of some of the participants. There is much specific detail about the men and women of the colony. As exciting a tale as those of the first settlements of Virginia and Massachusetts.

This is hard for me to rate because I found much of the book too tedious. I enjoyed reading the beginning chapters and the epilogue, but got. bogged down reading all the details in the middle chapters. I may try again after visiting Australia. I am sure it is well-documented with valuable information.

Excellent history full of anecdotes bringing to life the experiences of the first settlers. The book humanizes all players, showing the positive role that a large number of transportees played, without omitting the deviousness and untrustworthiness of an equally large number of settlers, military and convict alike. The Fatal Shore is an excellent book, but it presents an almost unmigitated picture of the grimness of everything. Commonwealth of Thieves adds the balance necessary to understand why Australia has become the extraordinarily vibrant country that it is today.

This book provides an excellent and detailed feel for what life must have ben like for the early settlers of Australia and the environment from which they came. It is difficult to imagine how anybody survived those early days and the hardships they had to put up with.

Surprisingly well written non fiction that reads like a novel

Having read A Commonwealth of Thieves: The Story of The Founding of Australia,this review is for the Audio Book edition of the same book, though the labellingfor this audio edition bears a slightly different sub title," The Improbable Birthof Australia".With the help of Simon Vance, the noted reader on this unabridged editionof his book, Thomas Keneally takes us through an exceptionally well researchedand well balanced account of the first four founding years of his native land.Prior to the American Revolution in 1776, Britain had seen fit to transport convictsto the American Colonies. Now with this means of disposing of it's convicted felonsat an end, the decision to transport convicts to New South Wales became an obsessionfor the penal authorities and eventually a First Fleet of over 700 were sent to theantipodes. Drawing on journals and the many documents of the era, the author givesus a rich insight into the minds of both, officers and convicts to create an audioedition of his book that is well worth a listen.We learn something of the mind of Captain Arthur Phillip, the Naval Officer in chargeof the fleet, and on arrival his role as Governor of the new colony. The Marine Officersand men who 'policed' the early settlement and of the convicted men and women too.The struggles of the Aboriginal population are given credence as we listen to accountsof battles and sometimes cold blooded murders of these indigenous folk whose firstconfrontation with white skinned people must have astounded them. They thoughtthat white skinned people were ghosts.Lack of supplies, famine and disease all feature here as the convicts become colonists.Captain Phillip's maxim being "no slavery in a free land", and many convicts whoseprison sentences were served, would now struggle and finally make a new and successfullife in what was a wild and dusty land.Thomas Keneally's book of the birth of Australia is brought to life here in a wellnarrated and characterised account by Simon Vance, whose voice quite pleasing tolisten to, brings the main characters to life.With over 12 hours of listening on a 10 CD boxed setthis is ideal for those who love audio books in unabridged format.Published in 2006 by Tantor audio.Very Enjoyable.

Anyone into early Australian life and the opening up of Australia from Sydney then this is a must have.I found it one of those rare books that was very hard to put down once started.Another good read is 'The Fatal Shore' by Robert Hughes.

Unexpectedly entertaining. Full of anecdote the outcome of detailed research. Very enjoyable