Reviews (2)

A classic
This is a real classic in the history of anthropology, published in 1922, and unlike another classic from the same decade, Coming of Age in Samoa, it has worn well, too.This is where modern ethnography begins.Malinowski tells us how to do ethnography, in no uncertain terms, as he explains Trobriand kula expeditions. I found it to be a delightful read and I was continually amazed at the intellectual sophistication of his work, given its age.I believe I learned more about ethnography from this book than from any other I have ever read, and I have been a professional anthropologist for 30 years.It is, I must warn you, a long book, and I doubt that many will be willing to read it from stem to stern, but I think every anthropologist should study the introduction at least.It is perhaps the "sacred charter" for the ethnographic project, complete with felicitous phrases such as the "ethnographer's magic," "the imponderabilia of actual life," "the native's point of view," and "the hold life has."In addition, it is certainly essential reading for anyone interested in magic, because it is as much about magic as it is about kula exchange. An essential work in this history of anthropology
Don't be misled by the occasional discouraged student, this is an important work that must be read by someone seeking to understand the nature and history of the social sciences. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Barter    2. Economic Anthropology    3. Ethnology    4. Folk-lore    5. Folklore & Mythology - Mythology    6. History - General History    7. History - U.S.    8. New Guinea    9. Social Science / Ethnology    10. Sociology    11. United States - State & Local - General    12. Folklore & Mythology - Folklore   

Reviews (2)

Journey to Irian Jaya
This book is an ethnography of the Dani, a people living in the Grand Valley, a temperate plain along the Balim River in central Irian Jaya (New Guinea).Heider visited the region and got to know the Dani during four study visits over nine years, beginning in 1961.The book includes information on standard ethnographic topics, such as environment, population density, labor and its division, tools, arts and play, social relationships, kinship terms, leadership, religion and ritual, funerals, and feasts.
Updated Ethnography of the Dani
While it is a fascinating reading in itself, this book is best read after the more comprehensive classic "The Dugum Dani" by the same author, of which this work is something of an update.Read more

Subjects:  1. Anthropology - Cultural    2. Anthropology - General    3. Archaeology / Anthropology    4. Dani (New Guinea people)    5. Social Science    6. Sociology    7. Anthropology    8. Indigenous peoples    9. Papua New Guinea    10. Social Science / Anthropology / General   

Subjects:  1. Australia & New Zealand - General    2. Encyclopedias    3. General    4. History    5. History: World    6. Oceania    7. Oceania - History    8. Reference    9. Australasia, Oceania & Other Land Areas    10. History of other lands    11. Pacific Ocean    12. Pacific studies    13. Reference works   

Reviews (7)

Good Overview, Short on Archeology
I will say that like most of Ballard's books this is nicely laid out; good sized and with excellent photographs & drawings.
Price of Freedom Lies Between These Pages
The title above is what my great-uncle inscribed on the inside cover of this book.He is the Tommy Morriswhose story is told in the pages of this book.Like many more famous sailors and soldiers, Uncle Tommy (who died only two weeks ago after a long decline, for those readers who might be interested)used to tell me and my grandfather (Tommy's brother) that it was impossible for him to think of people as "civilized" having seen how we turn our new discoveries and technology so easily to the unhappy task of killing each other.He also said to me once that his role in the Quincy sinking was that of a "damsel in distress".. which description was follwed by that sort of masculing deep-seated chuckle which only come forth from heroic men who have seen hell on earth. Great book on the warships lost in Iron Bottom Sound
Between August 1942 and February 1943, a land-sea and air battle was waged for an island in the south pacific called Guadalcanal. The six-month long battle for the island would be one of the definitive battles of the war. It was also one of the costliest. Thousands of Allied and Japanese soldiers died. And a channel north of the island had so many ships go down there that it was renamed Iron Bottom Sound. Read more

Subjects:  1. Antiquities    2. Australia & Oceania - South Pacific    3. Guadalcanal    4. Guadalcanal (Solomon Islands)    5. Guadalcanal, Battle of, Solomon Islands, 1942-1943    6. History - General History    7. History: World    8. Military - Naval    9. Nautical Archaeology    10. Naval History - World War II    11. Shipwrecks    12. Solomon Islands    13. Underwater archaeology   

Reviews (3)

Great book with one flaw
Outstanding coverage of MacArthur's 1944 New Guinea campaign covering the units and personalities involved at the strategic, operational, and tactical level.I would give it 5 stars except the maps have no scale, which is extremely frustrating.Also, more precise topographic detail on the maps would distinctly aid understanding.Maybe next edition...

Best recent book on the subject.
Taaffe provides much needed depth to the subject.I will not go as far to say the coverage is complete, but Jungle War is generally the most useful volumes on the subject out in recent years.
A seminal book about a little-known WWII campaign
A seminal book about a WWII campaign that achieved nothing of strategicsignificance except to boost Gen. MacArthur's personal standing as well asdiverting US military forces from a direct thrust at Japan. Oddly enough,only military operations from after Operation Cartwheel, which included thebloody Buna campaign, is covered. Interested readers on the relatedAustralian operations including the Kokoda trail, as well as follow-onoperations in the Philippines will have to look elsewhere.A clearprerequisite for reading and enjoying this book is to have read "AmericanCaesar" by William Manchester which gives the background to the complexrelationships between all the personalities involved. The almost deadlyduel between MacArthur and Admiral King over overall strategy and logisticsis highlighted, with Admiral Nimitz being pushed into the background. Therace between MacArthur's and Nimitz's rival thrusts towards the JapaneseEmpire being one of the main themes here.The book constantly harps onMacArthur's obsession with getting back to the Philippines. Thus, in hisrace to beat the US Navy to the China-Luzon-Formosa area, MacArthur iscriticised for moving too fast up the northern coast of PNG before securinghis bases for staging the next amphibious landings.He doesn't appear tohave endeared himself to the men doing the fighting but achieved hisobjectives in record time and with remarkably low casualty rates for thewhole campaign. As MacArthur did not know about the Manhattan Project, hecannot be faulted for his strategic planning based largely on the thenknown technology as well as current US military capability. As it was, theatomic bombs were the strategic weapons that decisively ended the PacificWar.This remarkable book goes somewhere towards setting the recordstraight and giving due credit to the many forgotten servicemen whoperformed gallantly or gave their lives in this little-known campaign. Themaps are clear, concise and relate well to the text. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1880-1964    2. Campaigns    3. History    4. History - Military / War    5. History: World    6. MacArthur, Douglas,    7. Military - World War II    8. Military History - World War II    9. New Guinea    10. World War, 1939-1945    11. African history: Second World War    12. Guinea    13. History / Military / World War II    14. MacArthur, Douglas    15. War & defence operations   

Subjects:  1. Earth Sciences - Geology    2. Science    3. African history: c 1500 to c 1900    4. Guinea    5. c 1700 to c 1800   

Reviews (2)

Apologia for Germany's Pacific Empire
The only thing worthy about this book is the title:it truthfully describes what is a neglected area of World War One history: the conquest by Australia, New Zealand and Japan of Germany's various imperial possessions in the South Pacific, notably among them New Guinea and Samoa.Lamentably, however, this book fails even to give a readable description of the military operations.Instead, it foists on the reader the patently implausible thesis that:(1) Germany's rule in the South Pacific was somehow a benign period of cultural enlightenment and empowerment for the natives (anyone familiar with the Kaiser's true racial philosophies, as implemented in East Africa and Namibia, will laugh out loud at this point); and (2) that the allies' - Australia's in particular - maladministered these territories once the German colonists were ousted.The anti-Australian bias drips from every page, as does the dewy-eyed sentimentality towards the ancien (German) regime. To add to which, the entire book is written in politically-correct dirge. Someday someone will write a good book dealing with WW1 in the South Pacific.That day is yet to come.

A Comprehensive Report
"The Neglected War" is a unique book that offers an extraordinary look at Germany's South Pacific colonies that no other writer has attempted before. The author gives in-depth perspective of Germancolonization from 1885 to 1919 by the indigenous population, the Europeans,and Australians. He also goes into detail about the political and economicsuperstructure the Germans utilized to maintain their hegemony over theprimarily colonial backwater that consisted of many, tiny islands. Whilethe book is well-written and has excellent portions describing themilitary, political, and economic structure of the Germans in the regionand how it was altered after the war, there are parts that drag and includeunnecessary, preachy passages. Overall, I liked this book and found it veryinformative. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Germans    2. Germany    3. History    4. History - Military / War    5. History: World    6. Military - World War I    7. Oceania    8. World War I    9. World War, 1914-1918    10. Europe    11. European history: First World War    12. First World War, 1914-1918    13. World history: First World War   

Subjects:  1. Art    2. Art & Art Instruction    3. Criticism    4. Ethnic art    5. General    6. History - General    7. History Of Fine Arts    8. Oceania    9. Folk art    10. History Of Art / Art & Design Styles    11. Melanesia    12. Micronesia    13. Papua New Guinea    14. Polynesia   

Reviews (3)

Unheralded Heros
There are many books written about recognized Marine heros. There were many. There were many men that were not singled out, Units that were not considered Elite as we might classify them today. They were the "Everyman's Marine" that performed as part of a team so the goal of victory could be met. These men unloaded the supplies, drove the trucks, resupplied the combat units, constructed roads and causeways that permitted heavy weapons to be utilized. On Target
An excellent first-person account of USMC elite in the Big War. Astory that should have been told.
A very good narative of all events. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Campaigns    3. Guadalcanal, Battle of, Solomo    4. Guadalcanal, Battle of, Solomon Islands, 1942-1943    5. History - Military / War    6. History: World    7. Lane, Kerry    8. Marines    9. Military - World War II    10. New Britain Island    11. Papua New Guinea    12. Personal narratives, American    13. United States    14. World War, 1939-1945    15. Europe    16. European history: Second World War    17. Maritime history    18. World history: Second World War   

Reviews (1)

A genius for the clay arts--vessels to figures
This book is rich in content and visuals--loaded with examples of the finest clay works from PNG, along with pictures of their makers at work. These men and women were true artists. We are shown how coiling was done, and how a pot can be fashioned by the paddle and anvil technique--the two basic potmaking traditions of Melanesia.The authors include maps showing all villages with pot making industries at the time the first edition of this book came out in the early eighties, as well as then extinct villages that once were pottery producers. We are also shown the regions where men predominantly make pottery, others where it is the women, or where both collaborate in the process of making and decorating clay objects for utilitarian and ritual use. This is a completely informative and thoroughly enjoyable record of a remarkable tradition, far better than anything you could pull off the Web on the subject in facts and in details and in images. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Art    2. Art & Art Instruction    3. Ceramics    4. Criticism    5. History - General   

Reviews (5)

Tremendous Storyteller
What happens when men won't take up the cross and go to the most remote areas of the world to share the gospel? Single women such as Marilyn Laszlo take up the burden. Marilyn has a wonderful way of telling stories that bring her readers right there with her. You understand exactly what she was going through, and are inspired to sacrifice and go yourself--as I was, also in Papua New Guinea.

Good Story But Terrible Theology
This book is an okay missionary story, but Ms. Laszlo's approach to spreading the Gospel is entirely wrong. She was either by herself or had another lady with her at the tribe she was working in. I know from being on the mission field that that is no way to spread the Gospel and please God at the same time. What Ms. Laszlo and her fellow missionaries did, I think, is just like having a lady pastor.

THE NITTY GRITTY OF THE MISSION FIELD
This was a life changing book for me. I have been a Christian for a long time but only recently became interested in missionaries. This book describes so beautifully what happens when an ordinary person is called by God to take the gospel to people who have never heard it. This school teacher from Indiana answered the call to go to New Guinea (350 miles from the nearest radio contact) and learn a new language, then translate the entire New Testament into that language. It is a very personal account of her relationships, her struggles and the miracles that occurred while she was there. I will never again be able to put missionaries on the back burner after getting to know this woman. I'm giving this book to all my close friends at Christmas, I can't think of anyone who would not be fascinated by this journey. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. General    6. Hauna Village    7. History    8. Laszlo, Marilyn    9. Missionaries    10. Missionary Activities Of Specific Denominations    11. Missions, American    12. Papua New Guinea    13. Religious    14. United States   

Subjects:  1. Anthropology - Cultural    2. Art    3. Art & Art Instruction    4. Collections, Catalogs, Exhibitions - Museum    5. History - General    6. Reference    7. The Arts   

Subjects:  1. Anthropology - Cultural    2. Anthropology - General    3. Archaeology / Anthropology    4. Art    5. Art, Melanesian    6. Exhibitions    7. History - General    8. Material culture    9. Papua New Guinea    10. ASIA    11. Oriental art    12. Social & cultural anthropology   

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   

Reviews (1)

Task Force 58 Deals the Japanese Navy a Fatal Blow
This book keeps up the tradition of other books in this fine series.This volume describes the action which took place in and around the Marianas Islands in the summer of 1944.The islands of Saipan, Tinian, and Guam were successfully captured and turned into air bases for the big B-29 Superfortresses so they could reach the Japanese homeland.These battles were fought with great savagery on both sides.For example, rather then surrender to the American forces, many Japanese soldiers and civilians threw themselves from cliffs overlooking the Pacific on Saipan.Read more

Subjects:  1. History    2. History - Military / War    3. Military    4. Military - World War II    5. Military Science    6. Naval History - World War II    7. Naval Operations    8. Naval operations, American    9. World War, 1939-1945    10. American history: Second World War    11. Naval forces & warfare    12. USA   

Reviews (2)

Engaging, thoughtful narrative from an Anti-Hero perspective
Back in 1977, Edwards Park published the sparkling "Nanette", a fictionalized account of his days as a neophyte P-39 pilot in New Guinea."Angels Twenty" could almost be considered the non-fictioncompanion volume.There is no shortage of action-packed fighter combatoral histories on today's shelves, and readers interested in combatanecdotes of the P-39 and P-47 may be appeased by this book, if not sated. Yet Mr. Parks offers something more, well, soulful -and wrly humorous. Theauthor is a gifted story-teller, and the perspective he offers may be oneunfamiliar to the public: The anti-hero fighter pilot. The author'sadventurous journey from uncertain tyro to capable veteran isrefreshingand memorable (an underlying theme seems to reflect a great truth: In theflying business, there is little that is more satisfying than earning therespect of your peers). I was completely absorbed by the mirthy andgenuine "Angels Twenty".I was left feeling as though I'd justfinished hearing Mr Parks recount his tale fireside. I was also reminded ofthe closing words to the introduction to "Nanette":"Thatwas the way we were".Mr. Parks' work is eminently enjoyable, andcould perhaps offer insight to my largely untried generation.

Tough recalled memories of a fighter pilot
By Parks own admission, the memories are hazey, and are patched together in this vague account of an American fighter pilot operating out of Port Moresby and later inland New Guinea. Stumbling along, he recalls"soirees" over the hills and mountains, the ocassional dogfightencounter and the bad landings on roughly made airstrips. An easy read,though not truly compulsive, but appealing to anyone interested in thesubject. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Aerial operations, American    2. Aviation - History    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Campaigns    6. History - Military / War    7. Military    8. Military - Aviation    9. Military - World War II    10. Military Aircraft - World War II    11. New Guinea    12. Park, Edwards    13. Personal narratives, American    14. World War, 1939-1945    15. Air forces & warfare    16. Biography: general    17. Europe    18. European history: Second World War    19. Papua New Guinea    20. Second World War, 1939-1945    21. Transportation / Aviation / General    22. USA    23. World history: Second World War   

Editorial Review

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Reviews (20)

Interesting story - biological and anthropological
Flannery is the Principal Research Scientist at the Australian Museum. This book recounts several of his expeditions in Papua New Guinea and Irian Jaya in the 80s and 90s.
Amazing scientist, unexceptional writer.
Without a doubt Tim Flannery ranks with the world's greatest scientist/explorers.He has a wealth of fascinating and valuable tales to tell from his travels to New Guinea.However, the book has little coherent structure.It's just a series of (mostly) unrelated stories, like he might recount over dinner.The details of his trips are incredible, but by the time I was half way through, I began losing my interest and felt I was re-reading previous passages.

Breathtaking, humorous and poignant
Flannery is one of a kind.He is to New Guinea what Perry and Amundson are to the poles, a first-comer .... one of the first to explore and document the stone age peoples of the mysterious island wilderness in the last days of its age of innocence.
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Subjects:  1. Anthropology - Cultural    2. Archaeology / Anthropology    3. Australia & Oceania - General    4. Essays & Travelogues    5. Ethnology    6. Indigenous peoples    7. Life Sciences - Zoology - General    8. Mammals    9. Natural history    10. New Guinea    11. Science    12. Science/Mathematics    13. Australasia, Oceania & Other Land Areas    14. Travel & holiday guides    15. Wild animals    16. Zoology & animal sciences   

Subjects:  1. Anthropology - Cultural    2. Anthropology - General    3. Archaeology / Anthropology    4. Ethnology And Ethnography    5. Social Science    6. Sociology    7. History of ideas, intellectual history    8. Indigenous peoples    9. Ok (Papua New Guinea people) - Social life and customs    10. Papua New Guinea    11. Social & cultural anthropology    12. Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural   

Reviews (1)

Dispela buk em i tok tru
After almost a century of modern-style research, the world is not exactly short of ethnographies.You can find works on everybody from Indiana town dwellers to Sri Lankan fishermen.Papua New Guinea, as an area where a wide variety of cultures, some with Stone Age technologies, endured well into the 20th century, attracted the attention of anthropologists right from the start.There are a very large number of books on the country, starting with Malinowski�s seminal works on the Trobriand Islands during and after WW I.Most, but not all, of them concentrated on investigations of what are often referred to as �traditional cultures�, if not �primitive�.Anthropologists, not unlike Western tourists, have often been lured by the �exotic� parts of the world where cultures extremely different from their own could be found. Bateson, Burridge, Glasse, Heider, Hogbin, Mead, Pospisil, Rappaport,Reay, Schieffelin, and Wagner to name a few, gravitated to Papua New Guinea, drawn perhaps by the chance to study people whose cultures were �untouched� by the West.�Untouched� is no doubt a relative word.A few others, especially Lawrence and Worsley, delved into the cargo cults, an aspect of Melanesian religion that sprang up in the wake of colonial pressures on traditional beliefs.Modern Papua New Guinea, with its Christianity, bureaucracy, development projects, education, corruption, urban crime, and population explosion, has not received so much attention.Until now.Michael French Smith�s VILLAGE ON THE EDGE is a delightful new ethnography based on work in the same village in the mid-1970s and then in the late �90s.Based on the idea of observing change, because Kragur village, on Kairiru island, off the north coast of the country, has been changing rapidly for many decades, Smith succeeds brilliantly.To my taste, he strikes just the right note between popular writing and professional investigation.In a clear, jargon-less style, he covers many areas usually found in ethnographies, such as village structure, family structure, the economic and political system, and religious beliefs, but focusses on how all these things have changed.It is a down-to-earth, non-exotic picture of present dilemmas for the Kragur villagers who still, after over twenty years of independence, remain poised between a sharing, cooperative society based on personal ties and the money-based, more individualistic one introduced as a correct model by the West and emulated by educated, town-dwelling locals.Smith puts himself into the picture, admits to his predilections and difficulties.Refreshingly, he does not hide behind some false �objectivity�, but shows how he accepted certain privileges (and dealt with some problems) that came with being a �whiteman�.This honesty, coupled with a sense of humor and nice introduction of the flavor of Pidgin English or Tok Pisin, a national language in the country, made the book all the more appealing.Read more

Subjects:  1. Anthropology - General    2. Asia - Southeast Asia    3. Economic Conditions    4. History    5. History - General History    6. History: World    7. Kairiru (Papua New Guinea peop    8. Kairiru (Papua New Guinea people)    9. Kragur (Papua New Guinea)    10. Oceania    11. Social conditions    12. Area / regional studies    13. Australasian & Pacific history    14. Papua New Guinea    15. Social & cultural anthropology   

Reviews (2)

An Important WW II Battle Little Known in the United States
This book belongs in any library of books on World War II.
A Definitive Account
"Few Australians have heard of Gona, Buna and Sanananda - or for that matter Milne Bay. In commemorating the Papuan campaign we have, as a nation, got lost on the Kokoda trail" - Peter Brune.
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Subjects:  1. Australia & New Zealand - Australia    2. Campaigns    3. History    4. History - Military / War    5. Military    6. Military - Other    7. Military - World War II    8. Papua New Guinea    9. World War, 1939-1945    10. Australasian & Pacific history: Second World War    11. Australia    12. History / Military / World War II    13. Second World War, 1939-1945