Islanders: The Pacific in the Age of Empire
Explores the lived experience of empire in the Pacific, the last region to be contacted and colonized by Europeans following the great voyages of Captain Cook. This title reveals that there was gain as well as loss, survival as well as suffering, and invention as well as exploita... read full description below.
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Full details for this title
| Interest Age |
All ages |
| Reading Age |
All ages |
| NBS Text |
Regional History |
| ONIX Text |
General/trade |
|
| Number of Pages |
356 |
| Dimensions |
Width: 156mm
Height: 234mm
Spine: 25mm |
| Weight |
666g |
|
| Dewey Code |
996 |
| Catalogue Code |
240094 |
Description of this Book
This compelling book explores the lived experience of empire in the Pacific, the last region to be contacted and colonized by Europeans following the great voyages of Captain Cook. Unlike conventional accounts that emphasize confrontation and the destruction of indigenous cultures, Islanders reveals that there was gain as well as loss, survival as well as suffering, and invention as well as exploitation. Empowered by imaginative research in obscure archives and collections, Thomas rediscovers a rich and surprising history of encounters, not only between Islanders and Europeans, but among Islanders, brought together in new ways by explorers, missionaries and colonists. He tells the story of the making of empire, not through an impersonal survey, but through vivid stories of the lives of men and women - some visionary, some vicious, and some just eccentric - and through sensuous evocation of seascapes and landscapes of the Pacific. A fascinating re-creation of an Oceanic world, Islanders offers a new paradigm, not only for histories of the Pacific, but for understandings of cultural contact everywhere.
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Awards & Reviews
| Awards |
Winner of Wolfson Literary Award for History 2010.
|
| NZ Review |
Thomas' description of the journey into the imperial world of the Pacific is made inclusive and companionable with lovely asides... [a] comprehensive but gripping book --Katrina Schlunke, Times Higher Education Supplement --Katrina Schlunke Times Higher Education Supplement (02/03/2011) |
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Author's Bio
Nicholas Thomas is director of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, and professor of historical anthropology, at Cambridge University, and has travelled widely in the Pacific. Among his books is Discoveries: The Voyages of Captain Cook.
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