Pack Of Thieves?: 52 Port Arthur Lives
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.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Good
Markings: No markings
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
A richly detailed work of Australian convict history, Pack of Thieves?: 52 Port Arthur Lives chronicles the individual stories of fifty-two men and women who passed through the notorious Port Arthur penal settlement in Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) during the nineteenth century. Drawing on meticulous archival research, Hamish Maxwell-Stewart and Susan Hood reconstruct vivid biographical portraits that humanize the convict experience, moving far beyond the broad strokes of colonial history to reveal the complex lives behind the prisoner records. The tone is both scholarly and deeply empathetic, challenging the reductive label of thief by illustrating the social, economic, and personal circumstances that led ordinary people into the convict system. Each life presented serves as a window into the brutal machinery of British penal transportation, exposing the systemic inequalities of class and empire that shaped the fates of thousands. The result is a compelling and authoritative collective biography that fundamentally reframes how readers understand crime, punishment, and survival in colonial Australia.
Author: Hamish Maxwell-Stewart & Susan Hood
Format: Paperback
Genre: Australian history
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Good
Markings: No markings
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
A richly detailed work of Australian convict history, Pack of Thieves?: 52 Port Arthur Lives chronicles the individual stories of fifty-two men and women who passed through the notorious Port Arthur penal settlement in Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) during the nineteenth century. Drawing on meticulous archival research, Hamish Maxwell-Stewart and Susan Hood reconstruct vivid biographical portraits that humanize the convict experience, moving far beyond the broad strokes of colonial history to reveal the complex lives behind the prisoner records. The tone is both scholarly and deeply empathetic, challenging the reductive label of thief by illustrating the social, economic, and personal circumstances that led ordinary people into the convict system. Each life presented serves as a window into the brutal machinery of British penal transportation, exposing the systemic inequalities of class and empire that shaped the fates of thousands. The result is a compelling and authoritative collective biography that fundamentally reframes how readers understand crime, punishment, and survival in colonial Australia.