Reviews (23)

Not History
This book appears to be a biography of Alexander Selkirk, but is actually a well-researched historical novel.The author knows her sources.There are many footnotes, quotes, and factual details.You want to believe she had some way of knowing the intimate details she supplies--how people saw their situations, what their motives were, and the vivid details of their experiences that bring the story to life.After all, historical sources sometimes provide such background, and in this case we do have some sources for Selkirk's thoughts, feelings and experiences.Soon enough, however, one sees that Souhami has simply assumed the authorial omniscience of a novelist.She states as plain fact many things that she could not possibly know, including things that only Alexander Selkirk could have known and that he would not likely have revealed.
True Adventures ???
Souhami's book is awful for the simple fact that she bases so much of Selkirk's actions on his sexual appetite for goats. This may be true, however Souhami bases this gross assertion on the anecdote of one unnamed islander. Forget Selkirk's own testimony. Forget the fact that Defoe's interviews with Selkirk led to a powerful story of an individual wrestling with the providence of God. Forget that when Selkirk lived the idea of throwing off the shackles of moral convention wasn't part of the common individuals frame of reference. No,instead Souhami is clear in her conviction that Selkirk's whole being was centered on a randiness for goats. Unfortunately this leads Souhami to defendthis outrageous claim throughout the rest of the book. Defoe, closer to the source, was inspired to write a story that captured the dynamic and driving spirit of Western cultural achievement(Not that it always benefitted everyone). Souhami instead jams a narrow modern interpretation on a classic and we're left with one of the least inspiring tales ever fabricated.

Very Little About Selkirk
While Souhami does an admirable job describing what life MAY have been like for Selkirk, it is mostly conjecture, as Selkirk left no journal behind to document his life on the island. Instead, most of the book is about Selkirk's voyages at sea, including his quest for riches with the famous buccaneer William Dampier.Souhami also spends some time reviewing the major works of literature emanating from Selkirk's travails, but her discussion of them adds little to our understanding of Selkirk's experiences after he was rescued. In the end, we know very little about Selkirk's days marooned, and even less about their effects on the rest of his life. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Australia & New Zealand - General    2. Europe - Great Britain - General    3. Expeditions & Discoveries    4. Historical - General    5. History    6. History - General History    7. History: World    8. Oceania    9. History / Great Britain   

Subjects:  1. Aboriginal Australians    2. Anthropology - Cultural    3. Archaeology / Anthropology    4. Australia    5. Dreamtime (Australian aboriginal mythology)    6. Ethnic Studies - Native American Studies    7. Mythology, Aboriginal Australian    8. Social Science    9. Social life and customs    10. Sociology    11. Western Desert (W.A.)    12. Australasian & Pacific history    13. Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural    14. Western Australia   

Features

• Illustrated

Reviews (3)

Good in spite
There are not many up-to-date histories which treat Oz together with NZ and the Pacific Islands.The chief author of this one is--as all writers of history are nowadays--a raving, dribbling, ultra-PC lefty who is convinced that "history" is nothing but a white man's construct to keep the rest of the world down, and who confesses at the book's beginning that he accepted the commission to write it more or less as a feat of subversion.However, the Pacific area has little to offer in the way of nation-state narratives, and must be studied in terms of ethnology, anthropology, and social research to bring out its history, and this is the sort of work at which these people excel.At least the authors don't insist on calling New Zealand "Aotearoa" all the time.Recommended for the generous-hearted reader who knows how to peer around the slant into all the data.

A History of Australia, NZ and the (South) Pacific
Readers may be interested in the favourable reviews in: Australian Historical Studies, 117, 2001, pp.373-4; Journal of Pacific History, 36:2, 2001, pp.2635-6; Times Higher Education Supplement, 2 March 2001; Pacific Affairs, 74:4, Winter 2001/2002, pp.629-30; English Historical Review, 116, Sep 2001, p.981; Australian Economic History Review, 41:2, pp.215-16; NZ Journal of History, pp.217-18.

Awful - PC Garbage
If you love history viewed through the lens of political correctness, this book is for you.If you want to see how racist and oppressive the English were, this history is for you.If you want your history served up with a lets-not-exclude-any-cultural-perceptions obsession, then this history is for you.This book is a extremely unhelpful analysis of the various cultural perceptions, gender oppressions, white colonial misdeeds and other predictable PC discussion.Perhaps this sort of thing is in vouge on college campuses today but if you want a fact based discussion of history in these regions buy Belichs excellent book.Denoon's is gobledegook. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Australia    2. Australia & New Zealand - General    3. History    4. History - General History    5. History: World    6. New Zealand    7. Oceania    8. AUSTRALIA_HISTORY    9. Australasian & Pacific history    10. History / Australia & Oceania    11. History of other lands    12. NEW ZEALAND_HISTORY    13. OCEANIA_HISTORY    14. Population & demography   

Reviews (3)

a semi-page-turner on the number eight wire country
Upon visiting New Zealand for the first time two years ago, an enthusiastic Kiwi colleague recommended Michael King's recently published Penguin History of New Zealand as 'a true page-turner'.
A "New Zealander's" observation
It is obvious why this book is heralded by all the trendy PC thinkers in NZ today as a work of inspired genius: the white man is to blame for all the ills suffered by the brown man in NZ today and deserves to feel guilty about it. I do not subscribe to this view. The author simply puts his own spin on NZ's history, and his 'opinions' are rarely capable of being supported by relevant research data. In only the first 20 to 30 pages the author makes invalid assumptions, presents spurious speculations and misrepresents uncontestable facts, as well as completely ignoring some aspects of recent researched observation. In spite of his (the author's) efforts to make my own (European) race feel guilty, I do not. I am proud to be white; after all, neither I nor my children are responsible for any past actions (on both sides) and find such blatant attempts to coerce the reader as dangerous as well as being extremely non-productive. This is not the way to encourage New Zealanders to look forward to the future.

Perhaps there are paralells between U.S. and NZ histories
I was fortunate to visit New Zealand this summer. Prior to the trip, I read what I could find on NZ...Captain Cook's travelogues, of course the Lord of the Rings movie books, even dabbled in a Maori-English dictionary. However, all had their shortcomings. I spoke about this with a friend in Lake Taupo (on the North Island), he recommended to me the Penguin History of New Zealand. I followed suit and became hooked!
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Subjects:  1. Australia & New Zealand - New Zealand    2. History - General History    3. History: World    4. Australasian & Pacific history    5. New Zealand   

Reviews (3)

WARNING!
I read this book several years ago.Excellent, but extremely thought provoking.Be warned, it is very upfront and to the point, in regards to what the U.S. government did to the people in the Marshall Islands.

WARNING!
I read this book several years ago.Excellent, but extremely thought provoking.Be warned, it is very upfront and to the point, in regards to what the U.S. government did to the people in the Marshall Islands.

Good Look at the Nuclear testing in the Pacific
This book is an interesting look at the nuclear testing the U.S. did in the Pacific Islands.It is a great book when you must write a paper on the subject, because of its understandability.I would recommend that anybodywho wants to know about the horrors that the Islanders went through duringthe testing and the aftermath of testing should take a look at this book. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. History - General History    2. Marshall Islands    3. Nuclear Proliferation    4. Nuclear Warfare    5. Nuclear weapons    6. Nuclear weapons testing victim    7. Nuclear weapons testing victims    8. Oceania    9. Politics and government    10. Social conditions    11. Testing    12. History / General   

Reviews (16)

Great Story
Novel or not, this book should be suggested or required reading in any women's studies/history course. The description of the petty crimes for which women were convicted, and the circumstances under which they were convicted, followed by their punishment and survival mechanisms are both entertaining and thoughtprovoking. The settler mothers of Australia! I wonder how many people today could trace their lineage back to these brave women!

Australia's Pilgrim Mothers
Sian Rees has done a magnificent job of reconstructing the lives of some humble people in the late eighteenth century. The original facts relating to the love affair between John Nicol and Sarah Whitelam on their voyage to Botany Bay are scanty and unreliable but the author ekes these out with detailed research. For example, having established that their ship touched at Tenerife, in the Canary Islands, at Cape Verde and at Rio di Janeiro, she has found documents describing those places at that time, and how a British convict ship was received. She gives details of the ocean currents and winds and navigation problems involved in a sailing to Australia, of contemporary midwifery practices, and of how defecation and menstruation were managed on a ship at sea.It is true that she digresses a lot into accounts of people who may never have seen Nicol and Whitelam, but it all adds up to a vivid and convincing picture.
This is an extraordinary story and book
"The Floating Brothel" is a wonderful book, and it will get under your skin.I'm not sure just why but the story of the women who were shipped from England for crimes to Australia in 1790, seem to really have gotten inside of me.Sian Rees did an admirable job of fleshing the lives of these women before and after their boat ride.She did this with scraps of information pulled together form many different sources, and with out becoming judgmental.You will find this to be an easy book to read, and it will leave with the need to find out more not just about the transport of convict to New South Wales, but also the earlier transports to the Americas.By the way despite the title of this book, you will be reading about very little sex.I also should warn you to watch out for the deep love shown and expressed by one of the seaman, for one of the convicts, it is better than any romance novel you'll ever read. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 18th century    2. Australia    3. Australia & New Zealand - Australia    4. Europe - Great Britain - General    5. General    6. Great Britain    7. History    8. History - General History    9. History: World    10. New South Wales    11. Penal colonies    12. Penology    13. Prisoners, Transportation of    14. History / General   

Reviews (2)

TRUST BUT VERIFY
As the author of "The Complete Guide to Easter Island" and a former member of the Board of Directors of the Easter Island Foundation, I believe I can state, with all due modesty, that I am duly qualified to evaluate Steven Roger Fischer's "Island at the End of the World" -- and my general view is that this is a valuable resource anyone interested in Easter Island should have on her or her bookshelf. Until now, the history of Easter Island has been featured as chapters in larger works or in highly abbreviated form. Worse, the history of Easter Island histories has been rife with inaccuracies that are largely the product of scholars and writers regurgitating past errors without any attempt to verify facts or to take the latest information in account. Nor is there any shortage of misinformation about Easter Island (and a lot fewer mysteries than most people understand), so it's good to see such a comprehensive work devoted to the subject.
Most recent account of the island
This concise account of Easter Islan history presents some new scholarhsip and rehashes the same stories of the islands remarkable facts and people. Easter Island is known for its isolation and its statues, as well as its startling degree of population decline. Easter Island was discovered, forgotten and then rediscovered.Its people originally arrived on canoes as part of the Polynesian expansion and colonization of the Pacific.Originally the island was forested and may have sopported larger mammals and other beasts, however in short time the trees were cut down and only chickens, brought by the polynesians, remained.The population embarked on the construction of the great stone statues, and then proceeded to fight endless wars.The art of canoe building was forgotten.When Europeans arrived diseases decimated the population untill few remained.The few that did remain were interviewed about their naitonal myths but no information could be found on the giant stone structures, that the people then living seemed in no position to be able to create with the tools they had.
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Subjects:  1. Australia & New Zealand - General    2. Civilization    3. History    4. History - General History    5. History Of Civilization And Culture (General)    6. History: World    7. Latin America - General    8. Oceania    9. South America - History    10. Australasian & Pacific history    11. Easter Island    12. History / Civilization   

Reviews (1)

A solidly written and easily accessible reference
The collaborative effort of Norris W. Potter, Lawrence M. Kasdon, and Ann Rayson, History Of The Hawaiian Kingdom is a solidly written and easily accessible reference for readers of all ages and backgrounds concerning the history of the Hawaiian Kingdom from the arrival of Captain Cook in 1775 down to the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy by American forces near the beginning of the twentieth century. Color illustrations and informative text make for an excellent general primer and resource. Also recommended is a History Of The Hawaiian Kingdom workbook ..., and classroom teachers using it as an instructional textbook should also acquire a History Of The Hawaiian Kingdom answer key ... ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Hawaii    2. History - General History    3. History - U.S.    4. History: American    5. Oceania    6. United States - State & Local - General   

Subjects:  1. History    2. History - Military / War    3. Military    4. Military - Strategy    5. Military - World War II    6. History / Military / World War II    7. Japan    8. Land forces & warfare    9. War & defence operations    10. World history: Second World War   

Editorial Review

Soon after the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen reached the South Pole in 1911, his Anglo-Irish rival, Sir Ernest Shackleton, sought to top the feat by making his way from one end of Antarctica to the other on sledge. He set off with a crew of 28, including scientists and a movie cameraman, but the voyage turned disastrous when Shackleton's ship, the Read more

Reviews (31)

the straight-ahead momentum of an ice breaker
His party stranded on an ice floe hundreds of miles from their destination, beyond the reach of the outside world -- even had the outside world known they needed help, or where to look -- his ship crushed by countless miles of pack ice and supplies running low, Ernest Shackleton spent not a moment in lamentation. He set about saving his crew and himself. They made their way to a small, desolate bit of island shore, from which Shackleton and five men journeyed 800 miles in a 22-foot open boat across the most dangerous sea in the world. A trek through miles of snow-covered mountain wilderness finally brought rescue. And everybody survived! Shackleton's is an epic tale of true adventure and derring-do, and he tells it with the straight-ahead momentum of an ice breaker diving into the pack. He sees beauty in the Antarctic, and he carries a touch of poetry (Browning, anyway) in his soul. He is also a detail man, and his flights of descriptive eloquence bog down amid facts, figures, wind speeds and diatomous striations. But this piling-on of minutiae proves riveting in the action sequences (most of the book). We feel like we are there. Having told his own party's tale, Shackleton gives a useful if anticlimactic account of the Ross Sea wing of the expedition - a story with its own generous measure of adventure, heroism and poignancy.

Poor Shackleton
Poor Shackleton. In all his life it seems he allways came late or second, allmost made it or, as in this story, did not reach his goal at all. Quite a tale of human survival
I want to dispell a couple of myths that seem to be pervading a handful of the reviews for this book.First, this book is NOT a cure for insomnia.This book is unbelievable exciting, and if it puts you to sleep so quickly, then your attention span has obviousley been severely warped by television or some other dumbing-agent.Secondly, the language, though written 80+ years ago, is not that challenging.I'm no linguist, but I didn't notice a difference between Shakleton's phrasing and word choice and the writing of today's writers.The fact that it was written so long ago does not make it boring.I think his book has aged quite well. Read more

Subjects:  1. 1874-1922    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Endurance (Ship)    5. Expeditions & Discoveries    6. History - General History    7. Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, 1914-1917    8. Journeys    9. Literary    10. Polar Regions    11. Shackleton, Ernest Henry,    12. Sir,    13. Antarctica    14. First World War, 1914-1918    15. Geographical discovery & exploration    16. Shackleton, Ernest Henry    17. World history: from c 1900 -   

Reviews (5)

Taking the risk out of democracy
Mr. Andrew Lohrey informs us in his introduction, to this collection of essays by the late Australian psychologist Alex Carey, that Carey was prevented from going to college by his parents after he finished secondary school as they wanted him to manage their sheep farm which he did with such success that he could sell it about a decade later and enter a university. One of the most important books you'll ever read
Alex Carey's work is absolutely some of the best.My favorite quote of his is this:"The 20th century has been characterized by three developments of great political importance: the growth of democracy, the growth of corporate power, and the growth of corporate propaganda as a means of protecting corporate power against democracy."This has become a touchstone for Sheldon Rampton and me in our books Toxic Sludge Is Good for You, Trust Us, We're Experts, and our writing for PR Watch.Carey is much missed.

Explains the role of thought control in democratic societies
Carey points out that citizens living in totalitarian regimes have no choice but to tow the government line out of fear for their personal safeties. In free societies, Carey explains that more subtle means are used to keep populations under control. Specifically, propaganda is used to ensure that most people will think in a manner that is consistent with the corporate agenda (such as belief in the free market and business' right to unlimited profit).Carey documents how Americans and Australians have been subjected to corporate propaganda during most of the 20th Century, and explains how these efforts have perverted our democracy (for example, American's over willingness to fight communists, real or imagined, to protect capitalism).Indeed, while many Americans were conditioned during the Cold War to believe that propaganda existed only in the Soviet Union, China and other communist regimes, Carey persuasively argues that propaganda actually played (and continues to play) a more critical role in molding the attitudes of citizens in democracies. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Australia    3. Business and politics    4. Corporations    5. Government - National    6. History    7. Interest Groups    8. Political activity    9. Politics / Current Events    10. Politics/International Relations    11. State And Business    12. United States    13. Political structures: democracy   

Subjects:  1. Anthropology - Cultural    2. Australia & New Zealand - General    3. Business / Economics / Finance    4. Development - Sustainable Development    5. Economic conditions    6. Environmental Science    7. Gimi (Papua New Guinea people)    8. Psychology    9. Public Policy - Economic Policy    10. Social Science    11. Social conditions    12. Sociology    13. Anthropology/Ethnography    14. Asian studies    15. Conservation of the environment    16. Environmental Studies    17. Ethnography    18. GEOGRAPHY    19. Papua New Guinea    20. South East Asia   

Reviews (3)

As dense as the ice shield...
Like the previous reviewer, I too quailed at the start of this book. Immediately I was plunged to half page paragraphs and dense terms, swimming between excessive description and dense science. But, I'm a geologist. I've been to Antarctica. I knew I could do it... Heorism - required
The planning to buy this book was detailed and meticulous. Consultations had to be held with interested parties (my sons) and the wait for it to arrive was lengthy - at least ten days. Hard to read but you still can't seem to get enough.
Stephen Pyne is a difficult writer, but the depth and meticulous nature ofhis intelligence pulls you back to him even though you tell yourself tolighten up and read a good mystery. Three cheers to university presses (Uof Iowa and U of Washington) for putting and keeping this book in print.The Ice touches on everything about Antarctica: the history, the landscape,the literature, the geology, the biology. The book is all-encompassing--asis The Ice that is its focus and deep passion. It's worth the effort, andyour vocabulary will never be the same afterwards. You can read a mysterylater. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Antarctica    2. Arctic Islands And Antarctica - History    3. Discovery And Exploration (General)    4. Discovery and exploration    5. Earth Sciences - General    6. Earth Sciences - Geography    7. General    8. Geophysics    9. Nature/Ecology    10. Polar Regions    11. Science    12. Geographical discovery & exploration   

Subjects:  1. 1911-    2. 20th century    3. Authors, Chinese    4. Biography    5. Biography / Autobiography    6. Biography/Autobiography    7. China - History - 20th Century    8. Literary    9. Yang, Chiang,    10. Australasian & Pacific history    11. Australia   

Subjects:  1. Description and travel    2. General    3. Hawaii    4. Hawaii - Local History    5. History    6. History - General History    7. History, Local    8. History: American    9. Oceania    10. Special Interest - General    11. Travel - United States    12. United States - Pacific - Hawaii    13. United States - State & Local - West   

Subjects:  1. Adventurers & Explorers    2. Expeditions & Discoveries    3. History - General History    4. Military    5. Polar Regions    6. Antarctica    7. Biography: historical    8. Diaries    9. Geographical discovery & exploration    10. Journeys    11. Maritime history    12. Scott, Robert Falcon    13. c 1900 - c 1914   

Subjects:  1. Archaeology    2. Archaeology / Anthropology    3. Ethnology    4. Hawaii    5. Hawaiians    6. Oceania    7. Polynesia    8. Social Science    9. Social life and customs    10. Sociology    11. Australasian & Pacific archaeology    12. Australasian & Pacific history    13. Ethnology--Hawaii    14. Social & cultural anthropology    15. Social Science / Archaeology   

Subjects:  1. Aerial photography    2. Individual photographers    3. NATURAL HISTORY, COUNTRY LIFE & PETS    4. New Zealand    5. Photographs: collections   

Features

• Illustrated

Subjects:  1. Antiquities    2. Archaeology    3. Archaeology / Anthropology    4. Australia    5. Australia & New Zealand - General    6. History - General History    7. Islands of the Pacific    8. Oceania    9. Social Science    10. Sociology    11. AUSTRALIA_ANTIQUITIES    12. OCEANIA_ANTIQUITIES    13. Social Science / Archaeology   

Reviews (20)

Cummings, please tell me your not this gullible
One common thread that I've noticed in studying communism and communist countries is the masterful use of propoganda.And in this book Cummings seems to have fallen for it; hook, line, and sinker.He saw the dazzling city of Pyong-yang (where only privaleged North Koreans are allowed to live, and the majority are not even allowed to enter - maybe that's why he saw "no one ill-clad, hungry, no beggars, no drug addicts...")Did it ever occur to him that maybe he was just seeing what his guides wanted him to see?If Kim Jong Il wants his country to be thought of as a "paradise," and if there were starving people, gulags, torture chambers, etc., would he show them to foreign visitors?
Sweep inconvenient facts under the rug
In the preface, the author claims that once an American President understands the true reality of North Korea, then "embassies will be exchanged, and Americans will begin to enjoy touring this beautiful Hermit Kingdom and meeting it's unknown but warm, proud and dignified people".
Cumings does it again
Bruce Cumings has most probably become immune to accusations of revisionism by now. It's not his fault that he is courageous enough to tackle events with a viewpoint seen by many as deviating from the "mainstream."
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Subjects:  1. Asia - Korea    2. General    3. International Relations - General    4. Korea (North)    5. Political History    6. Political Science    7. Politics / Current Events    8. Politics/International Relations    9. Social conditions    10. U.S. Foreign Relations    11. Australasia, Oceania & Other Land Areas    12. Australasian & Pacific history    13. International relations    14. North Korea    15. Socialism & left-of-centre democratic ideologies    16. USA