Author(s): Philip Snow and Stefanie Waine

Pacific Islands | Secondhand

South Sea Islands conjure up romantic images of palm-fringed coral beaches and dusky maidens. At a time when Pacific countries are gaining independence and when contact with the outside world is becoming more frequent and more superficial with the advent of package tours, it is worthwhile taking stock of the remarkable 450-year-old relationship between Europeans (and later the Americans) and the indigenous peoples of these islands.

The Pacific Ocean covers one third of the world's surface, yet the Pacific Islands were the most remote corner of the globe for Europeans to find and, when they did, they discovered what was practically another world.

The authors have examined the contact between the two cultures  - European and Pacific  - and have charted its origins, the misunderstandings, vicissitudes, clashes, attractions and exchanges between the Islanders and their European visitors, 'The People from the Horizon.'   They have recorded changes in the islands for better or for worse, and the hopes and the disillusionment on both sides, up to the present day.

The illustrations, many being the earliest artists' records, convey the authentic atmosphere of the first tentative meetings,  - sometimes friendly, sometimes hostile  - and highlight the often larger than life personalities in their picturesque and strange settings.

VG. Some foxing to the page edges. The dust jacket is slightly stained.