New Zealand Books

The back cover tells us that Charles Clark spent some years as a deckhand in the British Merchant Navy before embarking on his career as a research chemist. This background, together with his obvious skills as a different kind of researcher, is clearly evident in the expertise shown in the writing of an engrossing book.

We are introduced to the main story by way of fascinating vignettes of sailors cast adrift and eventually forced to resort to cannibalism. Then on to the Cospatrick, a three-masted barque which sailed from Britain for New Zealand in 1874.
Carrying a general cargo which included 6,000 gallons of spirits, the Cospatrick had 429 emigrants on board in addition to a crew of 44 and 4 passengers, when it caught fire and sank in the South Atlantic. The account of the fire, the desperate battle to save the ship, the panic and confusion as boats were lowered, are all graphically retold. Nearly 500 people died. In fact, there were only three survivors, three men who were later traumatised even further by the public exposure of their cannibalism.

The book is also very informative regarding the danger of life at sea generally in the 19th century. I was stunned, for example, to see an 1873 Board of Trade wreck chart reproduced that shows "Locations of the approximately 800 ship casualties that occurred on and around the coast of Britain during the first six months of 1873." (Yes, that really is 800!)

There are copious end-notes, six appendices and a good index. 'Women and Children Last' will be of interest to most general readers and deserves a permanent place in the library of any centre of maritime studies. I wish I'd had it when I was teaching English at the Portuguese Naval Academy. My students, I am sure, would have found it fascinating.

Women Call - Men Respond goes way past the psycho-babble of Man/Woman relationship books and finally tells it like it is. Women's appetite and Men's natural response.

The collaborative effort of Richard Woldendorp, Roger McDonald, and Amanda Burdon, Wool: The Australian Story is an historical survey which focuses upon the raising and shearing of sheep in Australia over the past one hundred years. Full-color photographs throughout enhance a thoughtful narration and history text filling the pages of this singular and articulate tribute to a trade that forms an unforgettable part of Australian history and it's present-day culture. A unique and quite distinctive coffee-table book, Wool: The Australian Story is very highly recommended and informative reading.

In 'I Know This Much is True' Dominic Birdseye is beset by some very real and legitimate difficulties which Birdseye proceeds to handle inappropriately. One has legitimate complaints with how Birdseye handles situations. A particularly egregious example of Dominic doubling up on disaster occurs when Dominic secretly gets a vasecetomy after a baby passes away from SIDS. At page 200 one has the desire to step into the novelistic world and tell Birdseye to shape up with yelling if necessary but that would be acting like Dominic Birdseye which the book is not recommending, quite the opposite. One is supposed to be upset by Birdseye. The great length of the book by main force assists with a portrayal of Birdseye as sympathetic but not a role model. By the end of the novel Birdseye does shape up. The perfect ending that the book delivers is highly appropriate as this is melodrama. As to the treatment of schizophrenia I think given the extreme circumstances of the schizophrenic brother the portrayal of schizophrenia is legitimate but as a portrayal of schizophrenia per se the book is lopsided towards the schizophrenics are 'violent alien beings' side. The book correctly points out that families can both be tough on people with schizophrenia and assist people with schizophrenia and that the mental health system both offers assistance to people with schizophrenia and abuses people with schizophrenia. The book doesn't confirm any prejudices and I think this is the great strength of the book. All in all a superior melodrama. In an uplifting melodrama category I would have given this book five stars.

I liked this book, although it is really, really, really long and doesn't necessarily tell the story as well as it ought to be able to, given the length. I really liked the story of Dominick and Thomas as adolescents and Thomas's descent into schizophrenia, especially since I have a relative with schizophrenia whose story is similar up to a point. I also liked the love story between Dominick and Dessa, though I could have done without the rape scene, which is NOT satisfactorily resolved. The idea of Dominick's character being stuck in the middle between a mother who loved him less than she loved his brother and a stepfather who hated him less than he hated his brother was an intruguing one. And I didn't mind the neat ending. After that many pages, it was a relief.

This book was everything that the reviews on here say it is. I don't read many contemporary novels because I found them disappointing, however, this was an entertaining and worthwhile read. I found myself taking my kindle everywhere not only because I wanted to learn the end of the story, but also because I found the story touched my mind and heart and many levels. I'll be reading Wally's Lamb's latest novel in the near future.

Do not shy away from this book because of its length (or because of the Oprah sticker!). It's a fantastic story and when you're finished reading, you'll wish it had been even longer. It's true. This book is on my list of all-time favorites as is Lamb's earlier work, She's Come Undone. I'm now eagerly awaiting his new novel which I've just ordered.

Every book lover simply must discover Wally Lamb.

I was intimidated by the length of the book but when my sister told me she read it twice I figured there must be something to it. I love this book and I didn't want it to end. At some point I thought I knew where the story was going....WRONG! The ending completely fooled me.
Read it and enjoy!

Having several tough young sporting nephews at the ripe ages nine to twelve, I bought this book. What a breath of fresh air. It's a inspirational book for young boys who love to indulge in games, projects, risk and adventures. When I ask about his days at school, I hear nothing but horror stories about the feminist teachers and school system which punishes and ridicules masculinity at every turn. The latest is banning kickball and dodgeball and RECESS outside, not to mention 40% of the boys are doped up on mind numbing Ritalin, while the girls are deemed normal.

The Dangerous book is essential for fathers who want their boys to grow up into real men, fathers who have a tight family unit, and want zero confusion in a boys mind about the important value of being proud to be a man. This book is full of fun facts, stories, guy stuff, and all things that have a special appeal to boys.

This book is a copy of an old book i have calledTHE GREAT AMERICAN DEPRESSION BOOK OF FUN..by John Odell printed in 1981..

I bought this book thinking that I already was a great dad & I knew everything of importance that needed to be instilled into my boys daily process of growing up living our American dream.

I was mistaken.

This book has so much great information in it-things I did & tried to do, but forgot about. Get it! Share it with your boys!

You'll enjoy it too, I promise!

I gave this to my 50 year old brother-in-law and ended up reading most of it before I would wrap it.

It brings back memories and makes you think of memories you'll be creating in the future.

This IS a dangerous book. I received an extremely painful paper cut whilst reading this text.

I read this book right before a trip to Australia, finished on the first leg of the flight. The whole time traveling around the country (great place by the way), I found myself seeing and hearing things right off the pages. My wife got so tired of listening to my chuckle and me trying to explain what was so funny that she read it on a train trip we did in our second week of the trip. If you've got a trip to Oz in your future, get the usual travel guides but also get this book.

I've read this book three times and I'm sure I will read it many more. Bill's insightful commentary on his travels through Australia is fascinating. His prose is easy to read, making this a great bathroom or late night reader.

You will learn facts about Australia you never knew all the while laughing out loud at Bill's perspective on his experiences. You will feel like the author brought you along for the journey!

I ran into this audio book on a used mp3 player I bought,,hmm hmm on ebay. Rather than just delete everything, I thought should check things out. I don't get time to read books, though I would like to. I have audio books, but never have time to listen to them either. One title was Bill Bryson. Never heard of him, but I had a few hours to listen to my mp3 payer. So I may as well check out the books that were on there. The author had kind of a British accent. I don't like british accents that much. They annoy me., alot. (crippes, now im writting like him))) After a short listen to this book not even starting from the beginning of the book, I could not put this down. The intelligents and style of writting/speaking was informitive, clear and humorous along with the vivid immagination of views of what he was talking about. Yes, several laughs out loud with the ear-bud mp3 player headphones on. I recommend this to anyone who appriciates some history,humor,life and a chance to get away from it all. If you like travel or just basic human behavior, you should love it. I would love for my family to hear this book.

I'm sure there are tons of reviews like mine. Anyways: I loved that book. It's very funny and loaded with information. Since I'm planning to go to Australia in December, I'm glad for all the tips and hints the book comes with. However, as always coming from Bill Bryson, it's a great read.

I read Bryson's "A short history of nearly everything" and I did enjoy the book. However when reading "In a Sunburned Country" I have to say I was disappointed at the overall tone of the book.

While fans of Bryson may think he is humorous, most of his humor falls flat and somewhat tasteless especially in his cavalier treatment of the beloved game of Cricket. Please, if you don't understand cricket and never grew up with it, you have no clue what you are talking about, and the attempted humor was pathetic.

Another thing I find mildly offputting is that he mentions in the beginning of the book that it feels great to land in Australia where everything seems similar to America and how civilized it is, and that people look like you. Is he saying that the people are white? So if I was not a white person I should feel uncomfortable? There are many other countries not too far from Australia where the people may not look like Bryson, but that does not mean one can't feel comfortable and feel that people of those countries are friendly.

It also appears that all Bill Bryson and his traveling buddy want to do is find bars and drink excessively. He does not really explore the culture of Australia in a deeper sense, it reminds me more of two college kids driving through another country.

Overall the book gave me a decent idea of Australia, but now I am not sure how accurate it is.

This book defies the constraints of the written word and captures a tri-soul: a devastating, miraculous, chameleon-like story that will reach out and grab your psyche, changing you forever. Deeply psycho-empathetic, alchemical, and rich beyond anything you've ever read. A gem hiding under the literary rubble of ego's and forced structures. Hulme breaks the mold that binds us to repetitive story-telling and reveals a world so intensely unique that we will be convinced to claim it as our own.

This is what one is temptedd to call a perfect book. Hulme's rough wisdom penetrates to illumine the brokenness of the self and the unhealable nature of relationships. It is not a counsel of despair but a mirror held up to human nature.

I found this novel deeply disturbing: are we really meant to sympathize with and care about the oh-so-sensitive alcoholic child-beating male protagonist simply because he is Maori and can blather on about ancestors and sacred spaces ? The destroyed child , progressively more destroyed and brutalized over the course of the novel, stands for what? It appears that the author wants us to approve of his pathetic attachment to his adoptive father....I didn't believe a word of the peculiarly happy ending. The author seems proud of her supposedly innovative style, which didn't seem particulalry innovative to me.

Apparently, many people enjoyed this book, including the majority of my book group. But I agree with the 3 publishers who, Keri Hulme explains in the preface to the first edition, rejected this book. This is a difficult, unpolished, often incomprehensible book. Perhaps as fair warning, Hulme provides what she calls "an explanatory dream." What this dream explains never becomes any clearer than most of the book itself. I can't deny that there were parts of this book that I enjoyed, but there were parts of the books that were simply maddening. In the end, I decided that the negatives far outweighed the positives of this book.

I've just finished "The Bone People" by Keri Hulme and cannot fathom all the five-star reviews it received. I can only believe that Hulme herself is sitting and writing them in her home far, far away from civilization.

This is a self-indulgent mess written over the course of twelve years! Unbelievable, self-indulgent characters that one cannot care about over the course of 445 pages of repetitive scenes.

Ultra violence toward a defenseless mute boy again and again until he's toothless, scared, welted, limping and cockeyed are forgiven by the author because the father has an unbelievable spiritual awakening in the wilderness of New Zealand. Good for daddy not so hot for what's left of son.

The holy man the father meets in the wilderness sounds like... all other holy men! - talking in parables and sounding like a watered-down version of King-James-Bible speak.

The writing at times is so convoluted that one is left to wonder if any resolution has occurred in this mess.

Am I the only reader that was frustrated by the number of Maori words that are NOT translated in the glossary. Key words and phrases in Maori are left to the reader to guess at!

Like many reviewers, I am working my way through all the Booker Prize winners with only five to go. This novel shakes my faith in the legitimacy of the award. It's as if the committee is saying, "Look, we need something from New Zealand."

I place it last among Booker Prize winners - yes, below even "Vernon God Little" and "How Late It Was, How Late."

I have recommended this book countless times. In 1997 I was disabled due to back pain: could barely walk, was on prescription pain meds, muscle relaxers, sleeping pills, couldn't work, couldn't sleep. I saw more drivel on late night/ early morning TV than you can imagine. Someone loaned me this book. I had tried everything: acupuncture, biofeedback, homeopathy, chiropractic, allergy elimination therapy, MRI, x-rays, hospitalization with morphine, Chinese medicine, energy medicine, Reiki, prayer, tobacco pouches, icing, liquid ice, hot tubs, whirlpools, physical therapy...I was in excruciating pain almost all the time. The exercises in this book began to make a difference. The trouble wasn't bones or nerves with me, it was muscles. If only I had known this months earlier I might not have become disabled. It was practicing the exercises in this book exactly as recommended many times every day that began, along with daily Aston Patterning treatments, to slowly resolve the problem. Essential Oils' "Valor" (YLEO) helped me get off all the meds. Now I stretch, ice, and use ibuprofen immediately when my back becomes sore, which is rare these days. I know what to do now to take care of myself right away, thanks to Robin McKenzie!

I too, had referrals from physical therapists to read and follow the instructions of the two books: Treat your own back and neck by Robin Makinzie. I may have spelled his name wrong, but his techniques are perfect. I am telling everyone about this book and have almost stopped taking ibuprofen. After 14 years in emergency services, I couldn't be in any position without pain and I was losing circulation in my hands. My doctor found that my pulse was disappearing in my wrists so he sent me to a physical therapist. I felt better after two days and after two weeks acutally realized that I had gone a whole day without pain. I cried. I had forgotten what it was like to not have pain in my neck, shoulders, and back. I have real things wrong found by the MRI and had been told by one ortho. surgeon to suck it up, this is how will be from now on. I was 38. Another ortho surgeon sent me to this wonderful PT and his first exercise assignment for me was to read these books. I am now buying them for family and friends. I agree with "so good I'm mad." Thankfully, I do know of one very good ortho who still cares rather than cuts and does what he can to help. I hope anyone who reads this will immediatley buy these books. You will not regret it. If one exercise hurts, he has another that won't. Stick with it and in a couple weeks if not sooner, you will be amazed.

This book was recommended by a physical therapist and it has helped enormously. It was so good I bought a second copy for a relative with back problems.

I thought this book was great. I didn't have chronic back pain, but my quality of life was definitely affected. I am doing less than half of the exercises recommended in the book and am almost pain free. Highly recommended. Lou

I would strongly suggest that you read this book very carfeully because I didnt and did exercises that I shouldnt have (if I had read it correctly I would have realised that). Boy did I suffer! So now I am very nervous about taking any of the advice in the book.

On the other hand I also bought Treat Your Own Neck by the same author and its absolutely excellent. It really has kept me pain free.

"The Fatal Shore" by Robert Hughes is the one book which is always mentioned when it comes to books about the history of Australia, and for good reason. Hughes' brilliant work covers in great detail the transportation of criminals from England to Australia, and the history of those penal colonies. He also deals with the historical figures and events which impacted those colonies.

Prior to this work, Robert Hughes had authored books on art, and is generally known as an art critic and a documentary maker. This work of history seems to be an unusual diversion from his typical interests, but as he explains in his introduction, it was while doing a series of documentaries on Australian art which took him to Port Arthur that he realized that he knew little of his country's convict past. His documentary work undoubtedly played a key role in his making this one of the more readable histories there is, and led to "The Fatal Shore" becoming an international best-seller.

He starts by discussing the conditions in England which led to the transportation of criminals to the opposite side of the world, the theories about there being a "criminal class", and the loss of the Americas as a dumping ground for British criminals. Another key point is the sentencing which was used at the time which resulted in people with a wide variety of criminal convictions, from petty theft to murder all being selected, without regard to whether or not they would be able to provide any valuable service to the colonies which were to be created.

Next Hughes discusses the first fleet, from the difficult passage, both for prisoners and free people, to the arrival and the dealings with the Aborigines to the difficult first years of the colony; it is an engaging tale which reads like a novel. The more recent "A Commonwealth of Thieves" by Thomas Keneally does a more complete job of telling the story of this period for those who are interested in learning more, but Hughes' work covers more time and is far more complete when looking at the entire period of transportation to Australia.

Hughes then looks at the makeup of the convicts, both men and women and the ratio between the sexes. Who they were, what crimes had they committed, and how they behaved once they were there. The vast majority were sent due to crimes against property, and just a small percentage for crimes against people. There were a few which appear to have been convicted of political crimes as well. The female prisoners were mostly of a marriageable age, and many were encouraged to marry the non-convict men who were there.

Hughes also covers in detail the more severe areas of punishment which were established in places like Norfolk Island and Macquarie Harbor. Though very few prisoners ever were sent to these secondary facilities, their presence and the stories about them helped to keep the prisoners in line. The treatment of the prisoners at these facilities was horrendous, and many preferred death to staying there. Many committed crimes while in the facilities in order to be sent back to Hobart for trial.

The end of the book covers the decline of the transportation system. Prison reform was coming and there were new ideas about how to deal with crime and criminals. The cost of transportation was high, and once space was no longer an issue in England's prisons it was no longer cost effective to transport. In addition, the non-criminal populations of the colonies grew, and they were not as welcoming of additional convicts as they had been earlier. In addition, once gold had been found, the wealth of the colonies made them even less accepting.

"The Fatal Shore" still sets the standard when it comes to Australian history. Hughes covers not only the major sites of Sydney and Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania), but also the efforts to create penal systems in Queensland and in Western Australia. In addition to the events covered, there are wonderful biographical descriptions of the major officials and notorious convicts. The one piece that the reader is likely to ask for more is with regards to the Aborigines, as so little is known of the individuals who were involved. The discussion of the native Australians is often told in very general terms, as there simply isn't any detailed written record to draw from.

In short this book has taught me a great deal about the history of Australia and I totally disagree with other reviews that make out it is biased in some way.

Found the book to be frank, open, honest and to the point.

BTW even though the book is very thick it was not a chore to read and finish.

Robert Hughes has written a towering account of the years during which Britain transported convicts to Australia, thereby beginning the colonization of a continent that would one day hold a place among the world's free nations. Hughes's fascinating text covers the exaggerated fear of a "criminal class" that, along with hopes of establishing a colonial presence in the region, caused England to spend so much treasure on the system of transportation. We also get much fascinating information about the difficult conditions on the new continent, the shameful treatment of the native Aborigines, and many harrowing accounts of the horrendous treatment prisoners received there. In the end, a rising tide of public disapproval and a gold rush that weakened the system's financial incentive resulted in the end of transportation. Hughes treats all of this--and much more--in exhaustive detail that is never dull. With the eye of a novelist, he includes the stories of many interesting figures from Australian history, fully contextualized within the epic sweep of his narrative. This book is a real winner.

There's no doubt that the lash and hangman's rope played an important role in early New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania). About 1830, the death rate by execution was about 1 per 1000 of the European population of NSW (30 per year out of 30,000). The first criminal trial in Australia led to a sentence of 150 lashes for being drunk and abusive. Thus began the operation of law in Australia, only a fortnight after the colony commenced. But a few months later, in Cable v Sinclair, two young convicts successfully sued the master of a first fleet ship because their luggage had gone missing on the voyage. English law would not have allowed attainted convicts to sue, let alone hold property. One of those convicts, Henry Kable, went on to a career as constable, jailer and merchant, even if his finances did crash spectacularly. This was a new land with a new approach to law and egalitarianism.
Hughes emphasises blood and the lash, glorying in it. He tells a great story, like an airport novel. But he doesn't tell us anything about the ordinary social and commercial life which began so quickly after the first colony began in 1788. He tells only half the story, and as a result, academic historians ignore his work. There are many much better histories of convict Australia than this. Try Grace Karskens, The Rocks, for a start.
Some of the men and women of early NSW were dishonest, gaining what they could when they could. That applied to officers as well as convicts. But they had relationships (often without marriage) and children, developed trade, lived their lives as well as they could. The surprise is that the place was so successful, not that it was so bloody. And of course the most significant blood lost was that of the indigenous people, a story not unique to Australia.

The Fatal Shore: The Epic of Australia's Founding


By Robert Hughes

Australia is one of those faraway places you read about in National Geographic or watch on Discovery. Remote, exotic, modern yet solidly based in its history, it's a chamber of commerce promotion writer's dream. T he only country to occupy an entire continent... spanning from the Pacific to the Indian Oceans; sophisticated and modern along the coast with Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane; forbidding and undeveloped in The Outback; boasting symphonies, opera, and architecture; an outdoorsman's paradise.
Robert Hughes, the Art Critic for TIME magazine, has done an outstanding service in chronicling the rich history of his homeland.
The Australian writer has delved deeply into primary sources including diaries of those unfortunates who fell victim to the System of Transportation: the official euphemism for the forced removal of mostly minor criminals from England and (particularly) Ireland to the distant and fatal shores of the new continent.
In researching "diasporas," I've discovered artificial "homelands" for Esquimos in Canada, "Little Cubas' in Miami; the relocated Acadian ("Cajun") culture of the Mississippi delta, and new asian cultures in the American Midwest.

But Australia really qualifies: the indigenous population, the Aboriginals, like our Native Americans were run off their land, deprived of their rights, and forced to give up their culture. The rest came in rusty "Hellships" -overcrowded, prone to disease, starvation, physical and sexual abuse, it's amazing so many arrived alive.
And when they did get there they found the horrendous penal colonies of Norfolk Island and Van Diemen's Land, where they worked as indentured servants until winning freedom.
For years, Hughes tells us, Australia underwent a collective cultural amnesia about its past, sweeping the darker side of The System under the rug. But gradually they came to terms with "The convict Stain," accepting their beginnings, and in the process developing a great nation. Those who have seen the Mel Gibson movie "Gallipoli" will understand how Australia's sense of identity was forged on the hellish trenches and beaches of the First World War. As I write, Australia is celebrating "Australia Day"...not colonial day, or Queensland Day, or something else from Europe.
The Fatal Shore is first-rate history and first-rate writing. (We're lucky to have Hughes still among us: he was seriously injured and almost died after a car accident in Australia)

*****

This was a very well researched story about history's bloodiest mutiny. I found the most interesting parts of the book were the details of life on board a Dutch spice trading ship in the early 1600's. The story of the shipwreck & the life of terror that followed for the survivors was also well written. If you are interested in historical non-fiction adventure books this one should be on your list to read. I would say "Skeletons on the Zahara" is slightly better & if you haven't read it already Nathaniel Philbrick's "In the heart of the sea" is one of the best in the non-fiction adventure realm.

I had a couple of minor criticisms that kept me from rating this a 5 star book. First of all sometimes it was hard to figure out what character the author was talking about. For example one of the main characters in the story was Jeronimus Cornelisz. Sometimes the author would use his first time , then he may use his last name, then both or he may just switch to calling him by his trade (apohecary)...then maybe call him by his position of a member of the crew or maybe just a random word to describe him. Add to this the fact that several people in this book have the same or almost the same first / last names it can get a little confusing. I flipped back to the index many times to make sure I knew who the author was talking about.

Another minor point was that the story really takes up about 200 pages of text. 130 more pages are detailed info about characters before & after events in this story took place. Another 150+ pages beyond this are notes & Index. In total the book is almost 500 pages but like I said the meat of the story is less than half of this.

These are minor points which don't take away from the fact that this is a great but gruesome adventure story.

This is a first rate historical book. Mike Dash has done a wonderful job of writing about a dreadful into the evil of man, in such a way that makes it readable. It is straightforward and unapologetic. "Batavia's Graveyard" accounts the action taken by the people who were shipped wrecked in truly desperate conditions, and explains how certain flaws in personalities can feed off each other. This is not a book for the faint of heart, because it is a story about mass killing, committed in most violent means contrived.

This was in my view an edge of the seat thriller of the world greatest mutiny. The author placed the historical narrative in perspective by outlining in sufficient detail, the individuals involved, the prevailing political and religious climate and the Dutch East India company mentality and methodology, placing all in their historical context. The scheming, planning, execution and finally the retribution of the mutiny are all stripped bare to provide a brutal insight into the the human psyche of paranoia and survival nearly 400 years ago. The development of and the understanding of the lead protaganist Jeronimus Cornelius was excellent.The narrative is fast moving from begining to end but interspaced with periods where the reader can really reflect and understand what it mght have been like to be trapped on a flat barren island off the West Coast of Austalia with your family, friends and some callous schemers and murderers for company. The coincidental appearance of the rescue ship on the day the mutineers attacked the remaining survivors and the subsequent race between survivors and mutineers to reach the vessel was thrilling. The final summarization was also very helpful and re-assuring that the punishment actually did fit the crime in those far off days. An excellent read.

I came across the bloody story of the shipwrecked Batavia as a footnote somewhere and decided then and there that I needed to learn more about it. I was not disappointed. In fact, I was wowed by the almost unbelievable story of mutiny and murder in the seventeenth century.

The nonfiction book "Batavia's Graveyard: The True Story of the Mad Heretic Who Led History's Bloodiest Mutiny" by Mike Dash is a detailed, readable, and exciting portrait of Jeronimous Cornelisz, a Dutch apothecary (and heretic) who lost his child and abandoned his wife to escape dept and scandal by going to sea. He ended up on the Batavia, the flagship of the Dutch East India Company, which was making its maiden voyage to Java. While on board, Cornelisz helped incite a near mutiny, and then survived a horrible shipwreck on a desolate chain of islands near Australia. Only after the Batavia's commander and his officers sail away on a gunboat to find rescue does Cornelisz make a true power play, taking over an island with his cronies and engaging in deliberately vicious acts of violence meant to terrorize and subordinate those survivors allowed to live.

The detail in this book is amazing. If you want to know what life in seventeenth century Netherlands was like, look no further. If you want to know what life was like at sea in the seventeenth century, this book is for you. If you are at all curious about the Dutch East India Company, this book will give you a great introduction to one of the most powerful companies in the world ever. And, if you want to read about a real horror story and real-life adventure, well, "Batavia's Graveyard" has it all.

Do note that this story has moments of extraordinary violence, including rape and the cruelest of murders. The rapes are not provided in detail, thankfully, but the murders are. The fitting executions of the killers are also described in astounding detail. All in all, it is not a book for those with weak stomachs.

It says a lot for a story when it begins with a shipwreck and builds in intensity from there.

Batavia's Graveyard, painstakingly researched and written by Mike Dash, starts shortly before the proud, richly laden Dutch merchantman Batavia, on her maiden voyage for the Dutch East India Co. in 1629, shattered its hull on a coral reef near Australia and some 1,500 miles shy of its destination in Java. It could have been a simple story of survival if not for the presence of Jeronimus Cornelisz aboard the doomed vessel. At first glance a simple, mid-ranking official for the company, Cornelisz harbored heretical ideas and an overblown sense of his own importance in the scheme of things -- and he had the intelligence and charisma to bend others to his will. Long before the shipwreck occurred, Cornelisz had plotted mutiny and piracy on the Batavia. But once he found himself stranded with more than 250 survivors and limited resources to keep them alive, the Dutchman decided to take matters into his own hands and decide who should live and die.

It might be somewhat hard to believe if this were fiction, but Dash has drawn his story from the logs, court records and testimonials of the day. As history, Batavia's Graveyard is a gripping, deeply disturbing tale. Dash should be commended for his ability to present the story with such perfect balance between sensational drama and stark historical facts. There are enough notes and references to sate even the most passionate researcher, and the narrative never falters in its flow.

by Tom Knapp, Rambles.NET editor