The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty
Read The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty Online
Authors: Caroline Alexander
Tags: #History, #Europe, #Great Britain, #Military, #Naval
BOOK: The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty
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Table of Contents
Praise for
The Bounty
The Bounty
“With all the drama and intrigue of a rollicking adventure novel, Alexander’s beautifully written and painstakingly researched book goes a long way to rehabilitate one of history’s most notorious villains:
Bounty
commander Lt. William Bligh. Through letters, court testimony, and personal diaries, Alexander vividly re-creates the mutiny, the details of which changed,
Rashomon
-like, depending on the crew member telling the story.”
Bounty
commander Lt. William Bligh. Through letters, court testimony, and personal diaries, Alexander vividly re-creates the mutiny, the details of which changed,
Rashomon
-like, depending on the crew member telling the story.”
—
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
“A captivating and properly salty account.
The Bounty
is a retelling of a remembered story in the grand manner. Alexander is particularly good at bringing to the fore lesser-known parts of the
Bounty
’s story.”
The Bounty
is a retelling of a remembered story in the grand manner. Alexander is particularly good at bringing to the fore lesser-known parts of the
Bounty
’s story.”
—
The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe
“Caroline Alexander has written a fine work of nonfiction,
The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty,
that will set the record straight and have readers searching for their Dramamine, so real is the action depicted therein. Her retelling of Bligh’s amazing feat of navigation—using the twenty-three-foot launch that he and a group of men were put into after the mutiny . . . would make a fine tale of seagoing heroism in itself. Alexander also gives us the story of the
Pandora,
the ship that collected some scattered mutineers for court-martial, and spins an amazing account of what happened to the
Bounty,
to Fletcher Christian and to the remaining mutineers who eventually settled on Pitcairn. All in all,
The Bounty
is a wealth of historical documentation, public record and narrative acumen. A breath of fresh, salty, sea air tossed upon the landlocked head of the unquestioning public. Alexander weaves various accounts and narratives into a seamless whole, making
The Bounty
the definitive word regarding one of the most infamous adventures ever to take place on the high seas.”—
The Denver Post
The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty,
that will set the record straight and have readers searching for their Dramamine, so real is the action depicted therein. Her retelling of Bligh’s amazing feat of navigation—using the twenty-three-foot launch that he and a group of men were put into after the mutiny . . . would make a fine tale of seagoing heroism in itself. Alexander also gives us the story of the
Pandora,
the ship that collected some scattered mutineers for court-martial, and spins an amazing account of what happened to the
Bounty,
to Fletcher Christian and to the remaining mutineers who eventually settled on Pitcairn. All in all,
The Bounty
is a wealth of historical documentation, public record and narrative acumen. A breath of fresh, salty, sea air tossed upon the landlocked head of the unquestioning public. Alexander weaves various accounts and narratives into a seamless whole, making
The Bounty
the definitive word regarding one of the most infamous adventures ever to take place on the high seas.”—
The Denver Post
“Alexander shows that this extraordinary story doesn’t need the [Hollywood] Dream Machine to enhance its inherent interest. Alexander helps both explain the popularity of this famous tale and dispel its many invented events.”
—
Houston Chronicle
Houston Chronicle
“Readers will find the true story in Caroline Alexander’s
The Bounty,
a fascinating book based on court testimony, diaries and other primary sources that draws a picture very different from the popular version. Alexander, author of the equally excellent volume
The Endurance,
produces a vivid narrative with psychological depth and a keen understanding of historical context.”
The Bounty,
a fascinating book based on court testimony, diaries and other primary sources that draws a picture very different from the popular version. Alexander, author of the equally excellent volume
The Endurance,
produces a vivid narrative with psychological depth and a keen understanding of historical context.”
—
BookPage
BookPage
“In her captivating 1998 bestseller
The Endurance,
Alexander rescued from the mists of history the saga of Ernest Shackleton’s heroic 1914-1915 Antarctic expedition, shipwreck and small-boat voyage to safety against all odds. She does the same for William Bligh in
The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty.
The court-martial of the ten
Bounty
crewmen . . . reads like a courtroom thriller, so adeptly does Alexander compare the often contradictory statements of the accused and the witnesses. Alexander’s description of Bligh’s 3,618-mile forty-eight-day voyage to safety over the raging South Pacific in a tiny open boat under starvation rations is both fascinating and credible. [Bligh] died in 1813, honored by his navy but soon to be reviled by history.
The Bounty
ought to change all that.”—
Chicago Sun-Times
The Endurance,
Alexander rescued from the mists of history the saga of Ernest Shackleton’s heroic 1914-1915 Antarctic expedition, shipwreck and small-boat voyage to safety against all odds. She does the same for William Bligh in
The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty.
The court-martial of the ten
Bounty
crewmen . . . reads like a courtroom thriller, so adeptly does Alexander compare the often contradictory statements of the accused and the witnesses. Alexander’s description of Bligh’s 3,618-mile forty-eight-day voyage to safety over the raging South Pacific in a tiny open boat under starvation rations is both fascinating and credible. [Bligh] died in 1813, honored by his navy but soon to be reviled by history.
The Bounty
ought to change all that.”—
Chicago Sun-Times
“Alexander brilliantly shows how the rise of the Romantic hero in Western civilization served the treacherous Christian better than it did the irritable but courageous Bligh, whose forty-eight-day ordeal in an open boat remains one of history’s great feats of seamanship.”—
Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
“Remembered as a villain, the
Bounty
’s captain was something closer to a hero . . . yet it is the mutineer who claims posterity’s sympathy, while ‘Bligh’ remains a byword for sadistic tyranny. . . . Against what Alexander characterizes as ‘the power of a good story’ Bligh stood no chance . . . [but] Alexander constructs a good story of her own from the historical record.
The Bounty
. . . will please its readers.”—
Los Angeles Times
Bounty
’s captain was something closer to a hero . . . yet it is the mutineer who claims posterity’s sympathy, while ‘Bligh’ remains a byword for sadistic tyranny. . . . Against what Alexander characterizes as ‘the power of a good story’ Bligh stood no chance . . . [but] Alexander constructs a good story of her own from the historical record.
The Bounty
. . . will please its readers.”—
Los Angeles Times
“Alexander has risen to the demands of an epic, adding even more resonance to one of the greatest mysteries of the sea.”
—
The Seattle Times
The Seattle Times
“Alexander has done a remarkably skilled job of pulling together information from a multitude of sources . . . to retell a familiar story in a new light.”
—
The Cleveland Plain Dealer
The Cleveland Plain Dealer
“[C]arefully documented . . . original and thought-provoking.”
—
Library Journal
Library Journal
“Alexander takes and gives most pleasure in recounting the open boat voyage that Bligh and the few loyal members of his crew took in a small boat after the mutiny. She breaks new ground in scholarship in showing how the court-martial afterwards protected the well connected and condemned the possibly innocent and certainly poorer men. Alexander makes great arguments and turns the weight of historical opinion on its head . . . she does well enough to make the story feel new and even more complicated than before.”
—
Orlando Sentinel
Orlando Sentinel
“Alexander shows her skill for bleeding drama from the seemingly parched carcass of history. . . . This important, gripping history is about very human misjudgments and their tragic consequences.”
—
Seattle Weekly
Seattle Weekly
“Retelling a familiar story, yet taking a fresh look at the drama . . . Alexander’s reconstruction of the mutiny and its aftermath is almost as remarkable as Bligh’s feat. Separating facts from falsehoods in the closing chapters . . . Alexander’s work is destined to become the definitive, enthralling history of a great seafaring adventure.”—
Publishers Weekly
(starred review)
Publishers Weekly
(starred review)
“Alexander shows us in compelling detail a far more complex set of characters and situations than we usually encounter in the many tellings of this story. . . . From these pages, Bligh emerges as a masterly commander during times of serious crisis.”—
Rocky Mountain News
Rocky Mountain News
“[A] compelling sea adventure . . . [and] an extraordinary work of historical research.
The Bounty
deserves to be read as a wild and fascinating story of British history and adventure on the high seas in an age of unparalleled exploration and naval superiority. But perhaps Alexander serves a greater need: she shows that truth is elusive, subject to the interpretation of historical social movements, and can be radically reinterpreted, even after centuries.”
The Bounty
deserves to be read as a wild and fascinating story of British history and adventure on the high seas in an age of unparalleled exploration and naval superiority. But perhaps Alexander serves a greater need: she shows that truth is elusive, subject to the interpretation of historical social movements, and can be radically reinterpreted, even after centuries.”
—
The Oregonian
(Portland)
The Oregonian
(Portland)
“A riveting, exhaustively researched narrative.”
—
Boston Herald
Boston Herald
“Blending a smooth interpretation of events with primary-source material, Alexander profiles history’s most famous mutiny in the same stylish manner she brought to Shackleton’s Antarctic expedition. There is no dearth of original material to work from when piecing together what happened aboard the
Bounty
in 1789 . . . and Alexander has harvested all the best of it. She offers fascinating and credible explanations for the rise of the Fletcher Christian myth, and the devolution of Bligh to join the ranks of Quisling and Legree. A great sea story, handled with dexterity to capture characters and circumstances with faithfulness to the record and a steady feeling of anticipation for history in the making.”—
Kirkus Reviews
Bounty
in 1789 . . . and Alexander has harvested all the best of it. She offers fascinating and credible explanations for the rise of the Fletcher Christian myth, and the devolution of Bligh to join the ranks of Quisling and Legree. A great sea story, handled with dexterity to capture characters and circumstances with faithfulness to the record and a steady feeling of anticipation for history in the making.”—
Kirkus Reviews
“The definitive account.”—
Newsday
Newsday
“[A]bsorbing.”—
Daily News
(New York)
Daily News
(New York)
“Why the details of this obscure adventure at the end of the world remain vivid and enthralling is as intriguing as the truth behind the legend. In giving the mutiny its historical due, Caroline Alexander . . . revivifies the entire saga, and the salty, colorful language of the captured men themselves conjures the events of that April morning in 1789, when Christian’s breakdown impelled every man on a fateful course.”
—
Staten Island Advance
Staten Island Advance
“The actual mutiny is only one of several fantastic stories related to the
Bounty
—and Alexander does justice to all of them: the amazing voyages of Bligh and his supporters, the capture and trial of some of the mutineers, and the escape to Pitcairn Island by Christian and the others.”
Bounty
—and Alexander does justice to all of them: the amazing voyages of Bligh and his supporters, the capture and trial of some of the mutineers, and the escape to Pitcairn Island by Christian and the others.”
—
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“As Caroline Alexander argues in this meticulously researched and smoothly readable revisionist history, the central part of the
Bounty
legend—that William Bligh was a tyrannical captain and Fletcher Christian a heroic rebel—simply is not true. Her own contribution to lifting the fog of romance and falsification from the story is valuable, and her book is interesting from first to last.”—
The Washington Post
Bounty
legend—that William Bligh was a tyrannical captain and Fletcher Christian a heroic rebel—simply is not true. Her own contribution to lifting the fog of romance and falsification from the story is valuable, and her book is interesting from first to last.”—
The Washington Post
Included on the following lists:
New York Times
Editors’ Choice Best Books of 2003
Chicago Tribune
Best Nonfiction of 2003
Amazon Editor’s Top 50 Picks of 2003
Selected as one of the Best Books of 2003 by:
San Jose Mercury News
Newsday
Chicago Sun-Times
Library Journal
The Oregonian
(Portland)
PENGUIN BOOKS
THE BOUNTY
Caroline Alexander is the author of the international bestseller
The Endurance
and four other nonfiction books. She has written for
The New Yorker, Granta, Smithsonian, Outside,
and
National Geographic
. She is also the writer and coproducer of the award-winning documentary
The Endurance
. She lives on a farm in New Hampshire.
The Endurance
and four other nonfiction books. She has written for
The New Yorker, Granta, Smithsonian, Outside,
and
National Geographic
. She is also the writer and coproducer of the award-winning documentary
The Endurance
. She lives on a farm in New Hampshire.
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