The Bounty
The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty
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3.9 • 22 Ratings
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
Has history been wrong for 200 years? Read the startling truth about the mutiny on the Bounty, its characters, causes, and aftermath. Television rights are now in development with Ridley Scott's Scott Free Productions.
More than two centuries after Master’s Mate Fletcher Christian led a mutiny against Lieutenant William Bligh on a small, armed transport vessel called Bounty, the true story of this enthralling adventure has become obscured by the legend. Combining vivid characterization and deft storytelling, Caroline Alexander shatters the centuries-old myths surrounding this story. She brilliantly shows how, in a desperate attempt to save one man from the gallows and another from ignominy, two powerful families came together and began to create the version of history we know today. The true story of the mutiny on the Bounty is an epic of duty and heroism, pride and power, and the assassination of a brave man’s honor at the dawn of the Romantic age.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A contributor to the New Yorker, Granta, Cond Nast Traveler and National Geographic, Alexander brings the past to life with travel narratives spanning continents and centuries. Alexander (The Endurance) again recreates a high seas voyage, retelling a familiar story of the South Pacific misadventures of the small British naval vessel the Bounty yet taking a fresh look at the drama. Commanded by William Bligh, the Bounty left England in December 1787 to transport breadfruit trees from Tahiti to the West Indies. During the 1789 mutiny, Bligh and crew members were set adrift in an open boat and eventually returned to England. Bligh who up until now has been viewed as a tyrant was praised at the time, Alexander finds, since "no feat of seamanship was deemed to surpass Bligh's navigation and command of The Bounty's 23-foot-long launch, and few feats of survival compared with his men's forty-eight day ordeal on starvation rations." Alexander's reconstruction of the mutiny and its aftermath (thanks to her exhaustive research through books, reports, newspapers, correspondence, historical societies and archives) is almost as remarkable as Bligh's feat. She details daily events during the captured mutineers' court-martial, expanding on court transcripts. Separating facts from falsehoods and myths in the closing chapters, she finally turns to the life of the mutineers on Pitcairn Island, noting "this fantastic tale of escape to paradise at the far end of the world had the allure of something epic." Alexander's work is destined to become the definitive, enthralling history of a great seafaring adventure. Maps and illus. not seen by PW. (On sale Sept. 15)
Customer Reviews
Superb Addition to the Corpus
The underlying story has captivated adventurous spirits as equally as political scientists and military jurists for centuries now. This modern retelling from yet another perspective than Nordoff & Hall's definitive trilogy breathes new life into—and sympathy for—the tension between the Captain Blighs and Fletcher Christians in all of us. Alexander does an excellent job of weaving historical writings into a fresh look at this intriguing story. She proves once again there are three sides to every story—my side, your side, and the truth. We will never truly know.
Great Retelling of the Famous Mutiny
An excellent compilation of well researched records, bringing light to naval history's most famous mutiny and amazing events that followed. The author takes readers before and beyond the mutiny, with insights on the crew and their family relations and desperate efforts, as well as the court martial records and naval logs. A great read with significant detail.