Burke & Wills: The Triumph And Tragedy Of Australia's Most Famous Explorers (SIGNED)
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Edition: 1st ed., 1st pr.,
Condition remarks:
Book: Very good
Jacket: Very good
Pages: Yellowed
Markings: Signed,Previous owner
In the sunburned heart of 19th-century Australia, two men dared to do what no European had done before — cross the vast, unforgiving continent from south to north — and paid the ultimate price. Burke & Wills chronicles the audacious 1860–61 Victorian Exploring Expedition led by the charismatic but reckless Robert O'Hara Burke and the meticulous navigator William John Wills, tracing their journey from the cheering crowds of Melbourne into the merciless silence of the outback, where ambition, poor planning, and cruel fate conspired to seal their doom. Peter FitzSimons reconstructs the expedition with the propulsive energy of a thriller, drawing on diaries, dispatches, and historical records to place the reader alongside the men as they push beyond the edges of the known world. FitzSimons, one of Australia's most celebrated popular historians, brings his signature narrative drive to this landmark story of colonial-era courage and catastrophe, illuminating the broader themes of hubris, leadership failure, and the terrifying indifference of the natural world. The book stands as both a gripping adventure and a meditation on the human cost of glory-seeking, cementing Burke and Wills as tragic icons of the Australian national consciousness. Meticulously researched yet written with a journalist's flair for drama, this account raises a haunting question: when ambition outstrips wisdom, who truly bears the blame?
Author: Peter Fitzsimons
Format: Hardback
Published: 2017, Hachette Australia
Genre: Australian history
Edition: 1st ed., 1st pr.,
Condition remarks:
Book: Very good
Jacket: Very good
Pages: Yellowed
Markings: Signed,Previous owner
In the sunburned heart of 19th-century Australia, two men dared to do what no European had done before — cross the vast, unforgiving continent from south to north — and paid the ultimate price. Burke & Wills chronicles the audacious 1860–61 Victorian Exploring Expedition led by the charismatic but reckless Robert O'Hara Burke and the meticulous navigator William John Wills, tracing their journey from the cheering crowds of Melbourne into the merciless silence of the outback, where ambition, poor planning, and cruel fate conspired to seal their doom. Peter FitzSimons reconstructs the expedition with the propulsive energy of a thriller, drawing on diaries, dispatches, and historical records to place the reader alongside the men as they push beyond the edges of the known world. FitzSimons, one of Australia's most celebrated popular historians, brings his signature narrative drive to this landmark story of colonial-era courage and catastrophe, illuminating the broader themes of hubris, leadership failure, and the terrifying indifference of the natural world. The book stands as both a gripping adventure and a meditation on the human cost of glory-seeking, cementing Burke and Wills as tragic icons of the Australian national consciousness. Meticulously researched yet written with a journalist's flair for drama, this account raises a haunting question: when ambition outstrips wisdom, who truly bears the blame?