Mr Bligh’s Bad Language: Passion, Power and Theatre on the Bounty by Greg Dening

Reconsidering authority and the drama of the Bounty

Good Condition - Covers show edge creases, scuffs and worn corners, with a retail label on the rear.

Greg Dening examines the Bounty mutiny through the language, rituals and performances that shaped life aboard ship. Rather than treating William Bligh and Fletcher Christian simply as opposing personalities, he investigates how authority was expressed, understood and challenged within the British naval world. Encounters with Polynesia add another set of meanings and expectations to the events that culminated in the mutiny of 1789. History and anthropology come together in an account attentive to gestures, words and the social stages on which people act. The book invites readers to reconsider a familiar story, showing how power depends not only on command but also on the ways that command is communicated.