The Fatal Shore: The Epic of Australia's Founding by Robert Hughes (Very Good, 1986, Pbk,688 pgs, Vintage Books)

Cover has light wear; pages appear to be unmarked. ISBN 9780394753669

The Fatal Shore: The Epic of Australia's Founding chronicles the brutal establishment of Australia as a British penal colony through the transportation of over 160,000 convicts between 1788 and 1868.  The book details the grim realities of the First Fleet's arrival, the sadistic conditions within penal settlements like Norfolk Island and Van Diemen's Land, and the systemic cruelty inflicted upon convicts by colonial authorities.

Hughes argues that this "system" was a desperate solution to overcrowded prisons and poverty in Georgian England, contrasting the Australian experience of involuntary exile with the American narrative of voluntary opportunity. The narrative extensively covers the devastation of Indigenous Aboriginal populations, who faced dispossession, disease, and violence as the colony expanded, while also highlighting the resilience and occasional resistance of the transported criminals who helped shape the nation's identity. 

Receiving widespread acclaim as a bestseller and winning the Duff Cooper Prize, the book is noted for its exhaustive research and vivid storytelling, exposing what Hughes describes as a "moral blot" on Australia's fabric. It serves as a definitive account of how a society born of despair and oppression evolved into a free nation, challenging romanticized views of colonial history by focusing on the suffering and complex social dynamics of its founding era.