After the Bounty: A Sailor's Account of the Mutiny, and Life in the South Seas
“Editor Maxton ….Has done an excellent job in preparing Morrison’s works for publication, and supplemented them with a valuable commentary, which makesAfter the Bountya good read for anyone interested in life at sea in the age of sail or the history and culture of the South Seas.”“Recommended.”“For anyone interested in theBountysaga, this volume is a most worthwhile addition to the extant non-fiction reading currently available.”“[This book] can be expected to add richly and pervasively to general knowledge of that historically and historiographically conspicuous incident.”“It’s a curiously, entertaining and instructive for age-of-fighting-sail or Herman Melville enthusiasts.”“[Morrison’s] stories of adventure after theBountymutiny makes for a powerful historical journal packed with nautical adventure and perfect for any nautical history library.”“After the Bountymakes a most important contribution to the literature of theBountysaga.  Through its publication, Morrison’s enlightening account of theBountymutiny becomes available to the general public for the first time in three quarters of a century. This book is a ‘must have’ for anyBountyliterature library.”“What a monumental undertaking! Donald Maxton’s passion and perseverance in pursuing his goal is topped only by his impeccable scholarship and thorough knowledge of his subject. Kudos and ‘Huzzah for Otaheite’ and for Maxton!”“At long last we have here a complete ‘Everyman’s Morrison,’ prepared by an established, devoted authority on theBounty, and for the first time making available to a wider audience a readable and useful modern version of one of the great classic sources to our knowledge not only of theBountyaffair but also of late eighteenth-century Polynesia.”“Written with a novelist’s eye for detail, a participant’s firsthand knowledge, and a literate seaman’s plain-spoken clarity, pardoned mutineer James Morrison’s account of theBountymutiny and its aftermath is an engrossing illustration of humanity at its best and worst. A true seafaring odyssey,After the Bountyleaves the reader with the sense of being present at the events described—it superbly conveys the rich reality of life at sea, the strident clash of cultures, and the exceptional experiences that change, and even end, lives. Above all, the journal is an extraordinary look at the complexity of human behavior, an intimate, sympathetic account of the Tahitian people, and a reminder of the epic dangers and discoveries that make adventure what it is.“Donald Maxton has brought James Morrison out of the shadows by publishing for the first time an accessible edition of his lively and absorbing journal, one of the treasures of the Mitchell Library, Sydney. The journal is a primary source for theBountystory and the only contemporaneous account of events after the mutiny. This publication is an essential work for all those interested in the world of William Bligh, Fletcher Christian and the Tahitians before the onslaught of the Europeans.”