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Using personal journals and documents, Keneally re-creates the hellish overseas voyage and the challenges Phillips faced upon arrival: unruly convicts, disgruntled officers, bewildered and hostile natives, food shortages, and disease. He also offers captivating portrayals of Aborigines and of convict settlers who were determined to begin their lives anew. A Commonwealth of Thieves immerses us in the fledgling penal colony and conjures up the thrills and hardships of those first four improbable years.","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9781400079568","publication_date":"20071204","publisher":"Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group","slug":"a-commonwealth-of-thieves","subtitle":"The Improbable Birth of Australia","title":"A Commonwealth of Thieves"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"HIS037040","confidence_band":"medium","label":"17th-Century History","score":0.7697,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS037050","confidence_band":"medium","label":"18th-Century History","score":0.7624,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS015050","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Georgian Britain (1714-1837)","score":0.7521,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"HIS037040","confidence_band":"medium","label":"17th-Century History","score":0.7697,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS037050","confidence_band":"medium","label":"18th-Century History","score":0.7624,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS015050","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Georgian Britain (1714-1837)","score":0.7521,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"HIS004000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Australia & New Zealand History","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"HIS037040","confidence_band":"high","label":"17th-Century History","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"HIS053000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Oceania History","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"17th-Century History","score":0.7697,"slug":"17th-century-history"},{"label":"18th-Century History","score":0.7624,"slug":"18th-century-history"},{"label":"Georgian Britain (1714-1837)","score":0.7521,"slug":"georgian-britain-1714-1837"}],"reader_fit":["For readers interested in Australia’s early convict settlement and its human stories.","For readers drawn to history told through a governor’s perspective and historical documents."],"related_lists":[],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["Caroline Alexander","Nicholas Boulton","Penguin Audio","& 0 more"],"book_id":"9780142004692","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780142004692.jpg?v=291fa7482db85fe5","score":0.7133,"title":"The Bounty","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780142004692"},{"authors":["Paul Giles"],"book_id":"9780190623999","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780190623999.jpg?v=9fca1af0b6ac8343","score":0.6869,"title":"Antipodean America","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780190623999"},{"authors":["Keith Thomson"],"book_id":"9780316703635","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780316703635.jpg?v=7755ec144962be1b","score":0.677,"title":"Born to Be Hanged","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780316703635"},{"authors":["Christina Baker Kline"],"book_id":"9780062356338","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780062356338.jpg?v=d993f7750507cb33","score":0.6757,"title":"The Exiles","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780062356338"},{"authors":["Sian Rees","Siân Rees"],"book_id":"9780786867875","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780786867875.jpg?v=8971a90681f8f52b","score":0.6674,"title":"The Floating Brothel","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780786867875"},{"authors":["Deborah J. 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