Rating: 
Summary: Justice for Captain Bligh
Review: Several years ago, I came across Captain Bligh's own account of the mutiny on the Bounty. Besides being awed by the skill of his seamanship, I was struck by his careful, affectionate descriptions of the people of Tahiti. How bad, I wondered, could this man be? Then I wondered, how good could somebody the self-important Marlon Brando chose to champion be?Now Caroline Alexander has presented her meticulously researched record of the mutiny. I, for one, am happy to see somebody stand up for William Bligh. She explores facets of the journey, mutiny, and aftermath I had never considered, and pops quite a few myths along the way (Bligh's second breadfruit voyage did not end in mutiny). The author supposes the reader to be familiar with the story. The students I teach English as a second language, knowing nothing of British maritime history, would have difficulty figuring out the course of events from this book. Which brings up a rather serious complaint. If language is to have any meaning at all, we have to agree to the established meaning of words and structures, rather than set them adrift in a stormy sea of arbitrary usage (sorry, couldn't resist the metaphor). Naturally language changes, as a glance at the speech of eighteenth century sailors quickly shows. But there is rhyme and reason to the evolution of language, which we abuse at the risk of destroying our means of communication. For an author, Alexander has an appalling disdain for the meanings of some words, the blocks on which her work is built. Any educated person should know what fulsome means, and that it does not mean full. On page 271 (hardbound), I was confused to read that ¡§the mutineers prevaricated over whether to retain Purcell or McIntosh for his valuable carpentry skill.¡¨ After puzzling over this several times, I decided she must have meant 'vacillate.' What were the editors doing? But I do not wish to end my review on such a negative note. I encourage readers to buy the hardbound version. I have noticed a trend. In bookstores here in Taiwan, sometimes you can buy the American edition, the English edition, and the Chinese translation of the same book. Local publishers pay great attention to not only the visual, but also the tactile appeal of books, so in such a case, the Chinese translation is often the one you want to pick up. The English edition is usually simply an effort to plunk the words on the page, good enough, never mind any sensory appeal (I am reminded of the differences between Chinese and English cuisine). The American edition usually lies somewhere in between. With The Bounty, the editors who were not checking the words were probably busy designing the book, and they have done a good job. The hardbound version is a pleasure to hold, a pleasure to read, and a pleasure to own.
Rating:
Summary: A useful addition to the Bounty's epic.
Review: Alexander's greatest achievement is the addition of a third protagonist to the Bounty's story, Peter Heywood, who made a bad choice before he was eighteen and spent a lifetime trying to excuse it or atone for it. In doing so she spends much more time on the court-martial than some might think necessary, but it's clear that she's done a great deal of research. It's also clear that Heywood spent a long life living in the shadow of his youthful crime.
In focusing so, Alexander has neglected parts of the story already well covered by previous authors, particularly Gavin Kennedy, whose work is in fact the last word on Bligh and Christian. She mentions Bligh's later career in passing; it was rare for a captain to fight in one of the great fleet actions of that age, much less distinguish himself in two. She dismisses Bligh's Australian career in terms of yet another mutiny, but his opposition to the Rum Corps and violent deposition by them has made him a hero in Australian history.
(A previous reviewer complained about the pernicious effect of Hollywood, but one of the most effective and insightful re-tellings of the story is Robert Bolt's screenplay for "The Bounty". He gets a few facts wrong and compresses characters, but gets the dynamic between Bligh and Christian exactly right, and synthesizes the reasons for Christian's mutiny; something that Alexander seems unwilling to attempt, other than to say that he was drunk.)
Rating: 
Summary: Provocative throughout
Review: A convincing--and well researched--revisionist view of the famous mutiny. I was won over by the author's arguments and I daresay, you will be too. Too bad Bligh himself couldn't have lived to see this book.
Rating: 
Summary: bligh should flog this book
Review: Being a fan of the story of the mutiny on the Bounty, I was overjoyed that a book about the subject had come out. Little did I know, Caroline Alexander would tell the story as well as the actual voyage turned out- a disaster.
The book is plodding, slow, and incredibly tangental. Little time is spent on the actual mutiny or mutineer's motivations, instead focusing on the political ramifications of the peripheral characters. Pages upon pages are spent on the background of the family members of the mutineers, the mutineer's attorneys, and presiding judges of the court martial.
Even the description of what happened to Fletcher Christian and the mutineers on Pitcairn island is barely explained, and is often confusing. While trying to be objective, the author fails to speculate or theorize on some of the more interesting areas of the mutiny, principally, the real motivation of Fletcher Christian. The author's need to site actual passages from the court martial transcript, while well intentioned, goes awry. She fails to tone down or explain the confusing flowery language used by the 18th century sailors.
If you want to read a good book on the subject, read Captain Bligh and Mr. Christian by Richard Hough.
Rating:
Summary: A Deeply Rewarding Meditation
Review: of the infamous Bounty Mutiny that eschews the ususal Hollywoodization of the drama (Fletcher Christian, handsome, romantic, agonized/Capt.(actually Lieut.)Bligh, cruel, dictatorial, insensitive. This book offers a reconsideration of the character of Bligh, especially placing it in the contemporary setting of 18th century naval life. It finds that the answer to why this mutiny happened must be assumed to lie within the psychology of Fletcher Christian, rather than any supposed shipboard tyranny of Bligh. The latter was, she points out, a student of Cook, and thus sparing of the lash as well as takiing pains to see that his crew was nourished, clean and well-exercised so that fatalities on the long voyage were minimized. Those who take their image of Bligh from Charles Laughton or Anthony Hopkins, might be amazed to learn that Bligh was all of 35 years old at the time of the voyage.
Along with her delineation of Bligh, the book offers a fascinating and probing portrait of Peter Heyward, a Bounty midshipman who somehow did not enter Bligh's launch and yet, through family connections, managed to get a King's pardon from his mutiny conviction.
Overall, this book offers a sober, grown-up examination of one of the most dramatic, romantic and still enigmatic episodes in British naval history. It would seem to be impossible to write a dull book about the Mutiny, and Caroline Alexander has written one of the best considerations of this endlessly fascinating event.
Rating:
Summary: A superbly well written adventure
Review: Caroline Alexander takes a story you perhaps thought you knew-the 1789 mutiny on board the HMS Bounty-and says something new about it, in a style that is both economical, elegant, and exciting. In a first chapter that is a masterpiece of simple story-telling, she structures the fantastic story: "Captain" William Bligh (in fact, he was only a lieutenant) commanded the HMS Bounty to Tahiti, suffered the mutiny of part of his crew, and navigated a simple row-boat across many thousands of miles of the Pacific to be rescued. A second voyage, undertaken by the HMS Pandora, discovered many mutineers on a distant island, taking them into custody, only to be broken up in a terrible storm, its survivors (crew and prisoners) enduring a second open-boat voyage to safety. On return to England a length court-martial condemned many of the mutineers to death, but left unscathed young Peter Heywood, convicted but later pardoned. The traditional view of things (i.e. the one you 'know' from the movie versions) has Bligh as a torturer, the famous Fletcher Christian as a defender of the ordinary sailor's rights, and Heywood as an innocent bystander. Through careful reading of seemingly every contemporary document-including every bit of the trial transcripts-Alexander subverts the story to one of privilege rebelling against authority: whereas Bligh came from a family of extremely modest means, Christian and Heywood both came from old and well-connected families who, after the courtmartial, ensured their own good names by besmirching Bligh's. This is not sensational journalism but careful scholarship, and even if you don't agree with Alexander's 'take' on the subject, you will enjoy hearing the sailor's own first-person narratives, as well as Alexander's careful reconstruction of what actually occurred. This book was nominated for the National Book Critic's Circle award for non-fiction; it was richly deserved. "HMS Bounty" receives my highest endorsement as well!
Rating:
Summary: The best book on Fletcher Christian
Review: THis is the most wonderful read. From the salt blue waves of the pacific to the sultry meadows of Pitcairn island we follow the story of the bounty, from the mutiny to final 'miracle'. Maps are wonderful and this book weaves this tale of non-fiction like the best novel, set in the pacific during the time of empire Fletcher Christian and his band rebelled against modernity, set sail to tahiti, and thence to Pitcairn island. THeir descendants were discovered years later. This story brings the drama of the bounty to life, a must read.
Rating:
Summary: The Definitive Account of the Mutiny on the Bounty
Review: Caroline Alexander's "The Bounty", is a riveting, probing account into one of the most notorious episodes in the history of British Royal Navy, and one which has been seen erroneously as an epic struggle between the charismatic Fletcher Christian and the tyrannical Captain William Bligh. While some may complain that Alexander does not delve more deeply into the mutiny, providing us with a minute by minute account, or into the fate of the mutineers once they reached Pitcairn's Island, most will be as compelled as I was in reading her engrossing account of Captain Bligh and his successful 48 day navigation of the westernmost South Pacific in the Bounty's launch from Tonga to the Dutch East Indies; one of the great tales of survival in a small craft in the deep sea in which Bligh did not lose a single crewman to starvation or disease. And her portrayal of the court martial of the surviving mutineers seized by HMS Pandora is just as riveting. Alexander makes a very persuasive case for the mutiny's origin owing more to Fletcher Christian's peculiar personal psychology than to slanderous allegations of Bligh's cruelty to his crew. Indeed, Bligh, a celebrated navigator who was Captain Cook's sailing master on Cook's final expedition around the globe, was an enlighted, indeed, progressive ship commander; he was concerned first and foremost with the welfare of his crew. Alexander shows how splendid a captain Bligh would be in his subsequent successful expedition to Tahiti aboard the frigate HMS Providence and during several several French Revolutionary sea battles, serving under the likes of Rear Admiral Horatio Nelson. Her portrayal of Midshipman Peter Heywood, his family connections to senior Royal Navy admirals, and the suprising aftermath to his conviction at the Bounty court martial offers a fascinating look at social class and its bearing to British naval traditions. Without question, Caroline Alexander's splendid account of the HMS Bounty mutiny and its aftermath may be the definitive tome on this subject. Those wishing to know what did happen to HMS Bounty may find that this book could be the very last word on this saga.
Rating: 
Summary: entertaining but could be better
Review: The author has thoroughly researched this well-known story, and it shows in her book. I enjoyed it and would recommend it, but there will be portions that you might want to skim or skip. The most fascinating parts deal with the actual mutiny and the characters involved. Much of the book, however, deals with the aftermath, particularly the court martial of the mutineers. Readers who are well-versed on the story may appreciate that Alexander devotes much of the book to these less well-known parts of the story, but most may be frustrated by the second half of the book, which delves into such sidebars as brief biographies of the court-martial judges or the relationship between one mutineer (Peter Heywood) and his sister. I would check it out from the library, not buy it.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty fair appraisal of the situation on the Bounty...
Review: Caroline Alexander's account of the mutiny on His Majesty's armed transport Bounty is a far cry from what most people grew up hearing of the story. Alexander dug deep into historical documentation to come up with what seems to be a much more fair, and more realistic, view of the events and personalities involved in the mutiny. What we find is a Lieutenant William Bligh who is not a tyrannical, brutal monster, but an anal-retentive micromanager with a loose (and harsh) tongue, who happens to be a pretty brilliant seaman. Alexander explains how Bligh's posting was a recipe for disaster, from Bligh's secondary duty as the ship's purser (always an unpopular man on the ship) to the lack of marines to help Bligh keep order on board the Bounty. Bligh's hope to finish his voyage without a single flogging is certainly contrary to what most people are taught about him. We also find that Fletcher Christian is not a dashing, honorable young man torn between his duty and his shipmates, but a prideful and somewhat confused individual with a strong sense of entitlement and a psyche that is far from in order. Alexander did her research here, and it shows. From her findings of the true cause of Bligh's image problems (the Christian family) to the enigma that was Peter Heywood, there is plenty of depth to this story, especially with regard to the court-martial of the captured mutineers. The Pitcairn Island mutineers--including Fletcher Christian--aren't really discussed much, but that's due to the fact that there isn't a lot of solid documentation about what happened to them. It's mostly speculation, and Alexander did her best to sort through the stories to get what she could. The book does read a bit as a defense of Bligh, as most of his transgressions are shrugged off by Alexander as being no worse than a sailor would have seen on any other ship of the time. In addition, the entire Christian family is shown in a less-than-flattering light. I enjoyed this book, and was amazed at how far off-base modern understanding (or at least modern Hollywood's understanding) of the mutiny on the Bounty is. Previous comments notwithstanding, Alexander's version of the story doesn't really condemn anyone, and is pretty fair to everyone involved, even if Bligh does get the best of it. The only complaint I have is the doses of near-nonsensical old English included in the text. It's nice to get some things in the words of the actual people involved in mutiny, but I would appreciate a little helpful editing, just to ease the pain of deciphering some of these people's thoughts. Ultimately, however, this is a very interesting and informative book that I would recommend to anyone interested in the whole story of Bligh, Christian, and the Bounty and her crew.
|
