Product Description

In January 1788, the First Fleet arrived in New South Wales, Australia and a thousand British men and women encountered the people who would be their new neighbors. Dancing with Strangers tells the story of what happened between the first British settlers of Australia and these Aborigines. Inga Clendinnen interprets the earliest written sources, and the reports, letters and journals of the first British settlers in Australia. She reconstructs the difficult path to friendship and conciliation pursued by Arthur Phillip and the local leader 'Bennelong' (Baneelon) that was ultimately destroyed by the assertion of profound cultural differences. A Prize-winning archaeologist, anthropologist and historian of ancient Mexican cultures, Inga Clendinnen has spent most of her teaching career at La Trobe University in Bundoora, Australia. Ambivalent Conquests: Maya and Spaniard in Yucatan (Cambridge, 1989) and Aztecs: An Interpretation (Cambridge, 1995) are two of her best-known scholarly works; Tiger's Eye: A Memoir, (Scribner, 2001) describes her battle against liver cancer. Reading the Holocaust (Cambridge, 2002) explores World War II genocide from various perspectives.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2053916 in Books
• Published on: 2005-06-06
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 1.28 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 346 pages

Review
"Clendinnen wrtes so well, with an eye for detail and character that maker her a pleasure to read." The New York Times Book Review

“It is not often that a nonspecialist writing outside her usual area of study does as well as Clendinnen does here. Clendinnen writes understandably for anyone interested in early Australian history. ”
Choice

"In this book Inga Clendinnen breathes new life into early contact between indigenous and incoming peoples in Sydney, Australia, during the late eighteenth century...This book is a wonderful rollercoaster ride through the highs and lows of cross-cultural contact, and is highly recommended." - American Historical Review, Fiona Paisley, Griffith University

"Clendinnen writes in such an engaging, lively, and moving way and with real anthropological insight that the general reader interested in the human condition and relations between races will find her book a stimulating read." - Stefan Petrow, University of Tasmania

"A beautifully written account of cross-cultural relations...a valuable contribution both to ways of understanding colonial pasts and ongoing efforts to pursue reconciliation between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples today"
Anne Keary, Canadian Journal of History

About the Author
Inga Clendinnen is Emeritus Scholar in History at La Trobe University. She is also the author of Aztecs (Cambridge, 1991), Reading the Holocaust (Cambridge, 1999), and Ambivalent Conquests: Maya and Spaniard in the Yucatan, 1517-1570 (2nd edition 2003, Cambridge).