Paradise in Chains, Diana Preston
Paradise in Chains, Diana Preston
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Paradise in Chains
The Bounty Mutiny and the Founding of Australia

Author: Diana Preston

Narrator: Davina Porter

Unabridged: 13 hr 56 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 11/07/2017


Synopsis

Celebrated historian Diana Preston presents betrayals, escapes, and survival at sea in her account of the mutiny of the Bounty and the flight of convicts from the Australian penal colony. The story of the mutiny of the Bounty and William Bligh and his men's survival on the open ocean for 48 days and 3,618 miles has become the stuff of legend. But few realize that Bligh's escape across the seas was not the only open-boat journey in that era of British exploration and colonization. Indeed, 9 convicts from the Australian penal colony, led by Mary Bryant, also traveled 3,250 miles across the open ocean and some uncharted seas to land at the same port Bligh had reached only months before. In this meticulously researched dual narrative of survival, acclaimed historian Diana Preston provides the background and context to explain the thrilling open-boat voyages each party survived and the Pacific Island nations each encountered on their journey to safety. Through this deep-dive, readers come to understand the Pacific Islands as they were and as they were perceived, and how these seemingly utopian lands became a place where mutineers, convicts, and eventually the natives themselves, were chained.

About Diana Preston

Diana Preston is an Oxford-trained historian who lives in London. Her book Before the Fallout won the 2006 Los Angeles Times Book Award for science and technology.


Reviews

Goodreads review by PattyMacDotComma on February 03, 2018

5★ “. . . saw several large war canoes approaching fast. As well as men each carried young women who, standing on high platforms, performed ‘a great many droll wanton tricks.’ These included exposing their genitals while their companions shouted and chanted. Wallis's crew, deprived of female company......more

Goodreads review by Ryan on March 13, 2024

I am unswervingly stuck on nautical stories....nothing to be done now except to let this run its course.......more

Goodreads review by Keith on March 20, 2023

Diana Preston's Paradise in Chains is meticulously researched and written in a clear and readable style. In my opinion, it falls short of its ambition and falls short of greatness. The two stories it tells are both fascinating. Yet I don't feel enough of an argument was made to justify them needing......more

Goodreads review by Syed Ali on August 06, 2022

Paradise In Chains: The Bounty Mutiny and the Founding of Australia By: Diana Preston This is a history book that is based on a pile of facts about the Pacific Ocean and its geography, aboriginal people and first European contact with them, HMS Bounty's mutiny and the founding of a penal colony in Aus......more

Goodreads review by Julia on April 29, 2021

Turned to this hoping for new insights into Mary Bryant and the escaped convicts from Botany Bay. Well researched, but little new to add to Mary's story. Enjoyed the book as I am in awe of the convicts and Bligh pulling off these incredible open sea voyages.......more