The Bounty by Caroline Alexander is a well-written, exhaustively researched account of the voyage of the HMS Bounty, the infamous 1789 mutiny, Captain William Bligh's unprecedented 3,600 mile journey home in an open boat, the unfortunate shipwreck of the HMS Pandora while carrying the captured mutineers back to England, the subsequent courts martial and, finally, the rediscovery of the Pitcairn Islands, where several of the escaped mutineers spent their final years and where the descendants of the mutineers still live to this day.

Felicity gave it to me for my birthday last week and I devoured it with great relish. It's written in a concise, engaging style that reminded me slightly of Patrick O'Brian. Every single aspect of the events leading up to the mutiny, the events of the mutiny itself, and the decades of repercussions that followed is laid out in captivating detail. I'm a big history buff, and this was the most informative, entertaining work of historical non-fiction that I've ever read.

If you're at all interested in history, in things nautical, or even if you're just a fan of one of the various (highly fictionalized) movies made about the Bounty mutiny over the years and want to read about what really happened, I strongly recommend reading The Bounty. You won't be disappointed.