New Arrivals: DU 1 - DU 9999
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© 2002,This wide-ranging study of the Pacific Islands provides a dynamic and provocative account of the peopling of the Pacific, and its broad impact on world history. Spanning nearly 50,000 years of human presence in an area which comprises one-third of our planet - Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia - the narrative follows the development of the region, from New Guinea's earliest settlement to the creation of the modern Pacific states. It also examines the fascinating processes which have contributed to the formation of the hybrid Pacific we know today. A History of the Pacific Islands - traces the extraordinarily varied genealogy of all Pacific peoples, looking at their descent from Papuan tribesmen, Austronesian mariners and foreign colonists - examines the rich inheritance of the Islands as a consequence of succeeding waves of invading, then dominating peoples - explores the effect on the region - as well as the corresponding global implications - of voyaging, whaling, pandemics, colonization, trade, exploitation, war, nuclear testing and nationhood Informed by the most recent research and scholarship, Steven Roger Fischer's unique text provides a comprehensive yet concise overview of the Pacific Island's past. It is a highly accessible and invaluable introduction to the history of an area which is currently emerging as pivotal in international affairs. -
© 2013,The Pacific of the early eighteenth century was not a single ocean but a vast and varied waterscape, a place of baffling complexity, with 25,000 islands and seemingly endless continental shorelines. But with the voyages of Captain James Cook, global attention turned to the Pacific, andEuropean and American dreams of scientific exploration, trade, and empire grew dramatically. By the time of the California gold rush, the Pacific's many shores were fully integrated into world markets-and world consciousness.The Great Ocean draws on hundreds of documented voyages - some painstakingly recorded by participants, some only known by archeological remains or indigenous memory - as a window into the commercial, cultural, and ecological upheavals following Cook's exploits, focusing in particular on the easternPacific in the decades between the 1770s and the 1840s. Beginning with the expansion of trade as seen via the travels of William Shaler, captain of the American Brig Lelia Byrd, historian David Igler uncovers a world where voyagers, traders, hunters, and native peoples met one another in episodesoften marked by violence and tragedy. Igler describes how indigenous communities struggled against introduced diseases that cut through the heart of their communities; how the ordeal of Russian Timofei Tarakanov typified the common practice of taking hostages and prisoners; how Mary Brewster witnessed first-hand the bloody "great hunt"that decimated otters, seals, and whales; how Adelbert von Chamisso scoured the region, carefully compiling his notes on natural history; and how James Dwight Dana rivaled Charles Darwin in his pursuit of knowledge on a global scale.These stories - and the historical themes that tie them together - offer a fresh perspective on the oceanic worlds of the eastern Pacific. Ambitious and broadly conceived, The Great Ocean is the first book to weave together American, oceanic, and world history in a path-breaking portrait of thePacific world.