Review by Choice Review
Newell (National Museum of Australia) addresses a wide-ranging historical topic--cultural and environmental interactions between Pacific islanders and Western ships--by focusing on an important example, Tahiti. The author writes revisionist history. Earlier historians told the story of how Europeans and Americans exploited and undermined primitive island societies. Newell acknowledges that some of that happened, but natives were seldom mere passive victims. The natives saw advantages for themselves and contributed to the interactions. Western ships brought livestock and manufactured goods to trade for food and other products, and neither side could foresee all the consequences of these exchanges. Captain William Bligh successfully transferred breadfruit to the Caribbean on his second try, though the two Tahitian advisors he brought with him died of European diseases. The Australian trade for Tahitian pigs had a stronger impact on Tahiti than the brief breadfruit episode. Newell's several examples show that ecological exchanges had economic, social, and political consequences that sometimes benefited both parties, but they also had environmental impacts. Newell compares the Tahitian experience with that of other Pacific islands, and succeeds in her analysis. This well-written, illustrated, and documented work will be valuable for Pacific historians and anthropologists. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate students, researchers/faculty, and professionals. F. N. Egerton emeritus, University of Wisconsin--Parkside
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
