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Books > History > Australasian & Pacific history > General
This book examines the role of the international financial system
in the development of Pacific Asia and, conversely, the region's
growing influence on North America and the world economy. It looks
at the distant future, being devoted primarily to understanding the
emergence of modern Pacific Asia.
This book is a study of the Lapita Cultural Complex, a region
spanning both Melanesia and Western Polynesia. The Lapita culture
has been interpreted as the archaeological manifestation of a
diaspora of Austronesian-speaking people (specifically of
Proto-Oceanic language) who rapidly expanded from the New Guinea
region into Remote Oceania. The Lapita Cultural Complex--first
uncovered in the mid-20th century as a widespread archaeological
complex spanning both Melanesia and Western Polynesia--has
subsequently become recognized as of fundamental importance to
Oceanic prehistory. Notable for its highly distinctive, elaborate,
dentate-stamped pottery, Lapita sites date to between 3500-2700 BP,
spanning the geographic range from the Bismarck Archipelago to
Tonga and Samoa. The Lapita culture has been interpreted as the
archaeological manifestation of a diaspora of Austronesian-speaking
people (specifically of Proto-Oceanic language) who rapidly
expanded from Near Oceania (the New Guinea-Bismarcks region) into
Remote Oceania, where no humans had previously ventured. Lapita is
thus a foundational culture throughout much of the southwestern
Pacific, ancestral to much of the later, ethnographically-attested
cultural diversity of the region.
"The Treaty of Waitangi" is the founding document of New Zealand, a
subject of endless discussion and controversy, and is at the centre
of many of this nations major events, including the annual Waitangi
Day celebrations and protests. Yet many New Zealanders lack the
basic information on the details about the Treaty.
This revisionist history of convict transportation from Britain and
Ireland will challenge much that you thought you knew about
religion and penal colonies. Based on original archival sources, it
examines arguments by elites in favour and against the practice of
transportation and considers why they thought it could be reformed,
and, later, why it should be abolished. In this, the first
religious history of the anti-transportation campaign, Hilary M.
Carey addresses all the colonies and denominations engaged in the
debate. Without minimising the individual horror of transportation,
she demonstrates the wide variety of reformist experiments
conducted in the Australian penal colonies, as well as the hulks,
Bermuda and Gibraltar. She showcases the idealists who fought for
more humane conditions for prisoners, as well as the 'political
parsons', who lobbied to bring transportation to an end. The
complex arguments about convict transportation, which were engaged
in by bishops, judges, priests, politicians and intellectuals,
crossed continents and divided an empire.
This book provides an arresting interpretation of the history of
Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific from the earliest
settlements to the present. Usually viewed in isolation, these
societies are covered here in a single account, in which the
authors show how the peoples of the region constructed their own
identities and influenced those of their neighbours.
By broadening the focus to the regional level, this volume develops
analyses - of economic, social and political history - which
transcend
national boundaries. The result is a compelling work which both
describes the aspirations of European settlers and reveals how the
dispossessed and marginalized indigenous peoples negotiated their
own lives as best they could. The authors demonstrate that these
stories are not separate but rather strands of a single history.
INSIDE THE FORBIDDING STONE WALLS OF NEW ZEALANDS MOST INFAMOUS
GAOL. Grim, Victorian, notorious, for 150 years Mount Eden Prison
held both New Zealand's political prisoners and its most notorious
criminals. Te Kooti, Rua Kenana, John A. Lee, George Wilder, Tim
Shadbolt and Sandra Coney all spent time in its dank cells. Its
interior has been the scene of mass riots, daring escapes and
hangings. Highly regarded historian Mark Derby tells the prison's
inside story with verve and compassion. .
Establishing business enterprise in a tiny, remote penal
settlement appears to defy the principles of sustainable demand and
supply. Yet early Sydney attracted a number of business
entrepreneurs, including Campbell, Riley and Walker. If the
development of private enterprise in early colonial Australia is
counterintuitive, an understanding of its rationale, nature and
risk strategies is the more imperative. This book traces the
development of private enterprise in Australia through a study of
the antecedents, connections and commercial activities of early
Sydney merchants.
A Primer for Teaching Pacific Histories is a guide for college and
high school teachers who are teaching Pacific histories for the
first time or for experienced teachers who want to reinvigorate
their courses. It can also serve those who are training future
teachers to prepare their own syllabi, as well as teachers who want
to incorporate Pacific histories into their world history courses.
Matt K. Matsuda offers design principles for creating syllabi that
will help students navigate a wide range of topics, from settler
colonialism, national liberation, and warfare to tourism, popular
culture, and identity. He also discusses practical pedagogical
techniques and tips, project-based assignments, digital resources,
and how Pacific approaches to teaching history differ from
customary Western practices. Placing the Pacific Islands at the
center of analysis, Matsuda draws readers into the process of
strategically designing courses that will challenge students to
think critically about the interconnected histories of East Asia,
Southeast Asia, Australia, the Pacific Islands, and the Americas
within a global framework.
Pitcairn, a tiny Pacific island that was refuge to the mutineers of
HMAV Bounty and home to their descendants, later became the stage
on which one imposter played out his influential vision for British
control over the nineteenth-century Pacific Ocean. Joshua W. Hill
arrived on Pitcairn in 1832 and began his fraudulent half-decade
rule that has, until now, been swept aside as an idiosyncratic
moment in the larger saga of Fletcher Christian's mutiny against
Captain Bligh, and the mutineers' unlikely settlement of Pitcairn.
Here, Hill is shown instead as someone alert to the full scope and
power of the British Empire, to the geopolitics of international
imperial competition, to the ins and outs of naval command, the
vicissitudes of court politics, and, as such, to Pitcairn's
symbolic power for the British Empire more broadly.
A grandson's photo album. Old postcards. English porcelain. A
granite headstone. These are just a few of the material objects
that help reconstruct the histories of colonial people who lived
during Japan's empire. These objects, along with oral histories and
visual imagery, reveal aspects of lives that reliance on the
colonial archive alone cannot. They help answer the primary
question of Lost Histories: Is it possible to write the history of
Japan's colonial subjects? Kirsten Ziomek contends that it is
possible, and in the process she brings us closer to understanding
the complexities of their lives. Lost Histories provides a
geographically and temporally holistic view of the Japanese empire
from the early 1900s to the 1970s. The experiences of the four
least-examined groups of Japanese colonial subjects-the Ainu,
Taiwan's indigenous people, Micronesians, and Okinawans-are the
centerpiece of the book. By reconstructing individual life
histories and following these people as they crossed colonial
borders to the metropolis and beyond, Ziomek conveys the dynamic
nature of an empire in motion and explains how individuals
navigated the vagaries of imperial life.
Illicit Love is a history of love, sex, and marriage between
Indigenous peoples and settler citizens at the heart of two settler
colonial nations, the United States and Australia. Award-winning
historian Ann McGrath illuminates interracial relationships from
the late eighteenth to the early twentieth century through stories
of romance, courtship, and marriage between Indigenous peoples and
colonizers in times of nation formation. Illicit Love reveals how
marriage itself was used by disparate parties for both empowerment
and disempowerment and how it came to embody the contradictions of
imperialism. A tour de force of settler colonial history, McGrath's
study demonstrates vividly how interracial relationships between
Indigenous and colonizing peoples were more frequent and
threatening to nation-states in the Atlantic and the Pacific worlds
than historians have previously acknowledged.
Volume I of the Official History of Australian Peacekeeping,
Humanitarian and Post-Cold War Operations recounts the Australian
peacekeeping missions that began between 1947 and 1982, and follows
them through to 2006, which is the end point of this series. The
operations described in The Long Search for Peace - some long, some
short; some successful, some not - represent a long period of
learning and experimentation, and were a necessary apprenticeship
for all that was to follow. Australia contributed peacekeepers to
all major decolonisation efforts: for thirty-five years in Kashmir,
fifty-three years in Cyprus, and (as of writing) sixty-one years in
the Middle East, as well as shorter deployments in Indonesia, Korea
and Rhodesia. This volume also describes some smaller-scale
Australian missions in the Congo, West New Guinea, Yemen, Uganda
and Lebanon. It brings to life Australia's long-term contribution
not only to these operations but also to the very idea of
peacekeeping.
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 over 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. Thoroughly revised and
updated in light of the most recent scholarship, the second edition
includes: * an overview of the events and developments in the
Pacific Islands over the last decade * coverage of the latest
archaeological discoveries * several new maps * an updated and
expanded bibliography Steven Roger Fischer's unique text provides a
highly accessible and invaluable introduction to the history of an
area which is currently emerging as pivotal in international
affairs. A History of the Pacific Islands traces the human history
of nearly one-third of the globe over a fifty-thousand year span.
This is history on a grand scale, taking the islands of Melanesia,
Micronesia and Polynesia from prehistoric culture to the present
day through a skilful interpretation of scholarship in the field.
Fischer's familiarity with work in archaeology and anthropology as
well as in history enriches the text, making this a book with wide
appeal for students and general readers.
On 8 May 1945, Victory in Europe Day-shortened to "V.E.
Day"-brought with it the demise of Nazi Germany. But for the
Allies, the war was only half-won. Exhausted but exuberant American
soldiers, ready to return home, were sent to join the fighting in
the Pacific, which by the spring and summer of 1945 had turned into
a gruelling campaign of bloody attrition against an enemy
determined to fight to the last man. Germany had surrendered
unconditionally. The Japanese would clearly make the conditions of
victory extraordinarily high. In the United States, Americans
clamored for their troops to come home and for a return to a
peacetime economy. Politics intruded upon military policy while a
new and untested president struggled to strategize among a military
command that was often mired in rivalry. The task of defeating the
Japanese seemed nearly unsurmountable, even while plans to invade
the home islands were being drawn. Army Chief of Staff General
George C. Marshall warned of the toll that "the agony of enduring
battle" would likely take. General Douglas MacArthur clashed with
Marshall and Admiral Nimitz over the most effective way to defeat
the increasingly resilient Japanese combatants. In the midst of
this division, the Army began a program of partial demobilization
of troops in Europe, which depleted units at a time when they most
needed experienced soldiers. In this context of military emergency,
the fearsome projections of the human cost of invading the Japanese
homeland, and weakening social and political will, victory was
salvaged by means of a horrific new weapon. As one Army staff
officer admitted, "The capitulation of Hirohito saved our necks."
In Implacable Foes, award-winning historians Waldo Heinrichs (a
veteran of both theatres of war in World War II) and Marc
Gallicchio bring to life the final year of World War II in the
Pacific right up to the dropping of the atomic bombs over Hiroshima
and Nagasaki, evoking not only Japanese policies of desperate
defense, but the sometimes rancorous debates on the home front.
They deliver a gripping and provocative narrative that challenges
the decision-making of U.S. leaders and delineates the consequences
of prioritizing the European front. The result is a masterly work
of military history that evaluates the nearly insurmountable trials
associated with waging global war and the sacrifices necessary to
succeed.
The Limits of Peacekeeping highlights the Australian government's
peacekeeping efforts in Africa and the Americas from 1992 to 2005.
Changing world power structures and increased international
cooperation saw a boom in Australia's peacekeeping operations
between 1991 and 1995. The initial optimism of this period proved
to be misplaced, as the limits of the United Nations and the
international community to resolve deep-seated problems became
clear. There were also limits on how many missions a middle-sized
country like Australia could support. Restricted by the size of the
armed forces and financial and geographic constraints, peacekeeping
was always a secondary task to ensuring the defence of Australia.
Faith in the effectiveness of peacekeeping reduced significantly,
and the election of the Howard Coalition Government in 1996
confined peacekeeping missions to the near region from 1996-2001.
This volume is an authoritative and compelling history of
Australia's changing attitudes towards peacekeeping.
In 1823, as the first American missionaries arrived in Hawai'i, the
archipelago was experiencing a profound transformation in its rule,
as oral law that had been maintained for hundreds of years was in
the process of becoming codified anew through the medium of
writing. The arrival of sailors in pursuit of the lucrative
sandalwood trade obliged the ali'i (chiefs) of the islands to
pronounce legal restrictions on foreigners' access to Hawaiian
women. Assuming the new missionaries were the source of these
rules, sailors attacked two mission stations, fracturing relations
between merchants, missionaries, and sailors, while native rulers
remained firmly in charge. In The Kingdom and the Republic, Noelani
Arista (Kanaka Maoli) uncovers a trove of previously unused
Hawaiian language documents to chronicle the story of Hawaiians'
experience of encounter and colonialism in the nineteenth century.
Through this research, she explores the political deliberations
between ali'i over the sale of a Hawaiian woman to a British ship
captain in 1825 and the consequences of the attacks on the mission
stations. The result is a heretofore untold story of native
political formation, the creation of indigenous law, and the
extension of chiefly rule over natives and foreigners alike.
Relying on what is perhaps the largest archive of written
indigenous language materials in North America, Arista argues that
Hawaiian deliberations and actions in this period cannot be
understood unless one takes into account Hawaiian understandings of
the past-and the ways this knowledge of history was mobilized as a
means to influence the present and secure a better future. In
pursuing this history, The Kingdom and the Republic reconfigures
familiar colonial histories of trade, proselytization, and
negotiations over law and governance in Hawai'i.
'What joy to be at sea again, adrift on the vast Pacific, in the
clutches of a gifted storyteller. Harrison Christian and the
mutineers of Men Without Country held me happily captive to the
very last page.' - Dava Sobel, author of Longitude 'Men Without
Country shows what a writer can produce when he has real skin in
the game... Harrison Christian sets the record straight on the
Bounty mutiny with forensic fervour, including the before, the
during - and the after.' - Adam Courtenay, author of The Ship that
Never Was Full of misadventure and mystery, Men Without Country is
a sweeping history of exploration and rebellion in the South Seas -
told by a direct descendant of Fletcher Christian, the man who led
the infamous mutiny on the Bounty A mission to collect breadfruit
from Tahiti becomes the most famous mutiny in history when the crew
rise up against Captain William Bligh, with accusations of food
restrictions and unfair punishments. Bligh's remarkable journey
back to safety is well documented, but the fates of the mutinous
men remain shrouded in mystery. Some settled in Tahiti only to face
capture and court martial, others sailed on to form a secret colony
on Pitcairn Island, the most remote inhabited island on earth,
avoiding detection for twenty years. When an American captain
stumbled across the island in 1808, only one of the Bounty
mutineers was left alive. Told by a direct descendant of Fletcher
Christian, Men Without Country details the journey of the Bounty,
and the lives of the men aboard. Lives dominated by a punishing
regime of hard work and scarce rations, and deeply divided by the
hierarchy of class. It is a tale of adventure and exploration
punctuated by moments of extreme violence - towards each other and
the people of the South Pacific. For the first time, Christian
provides a comprehensive and compelling account of the whole story
- from the history of trade and exploration in the South Seas to
Pitcairn Island, which provided the mutineers' salvation, and then
became their grave.
"Original sin is the Western world's creation story." According to
the Christian doctrine of original sin, humans are born inherently
bad, and only through God's grace can they achieve salvation. In
this captivating and controversial book, acclaimed historian James
Boyce explores how this centuries-old concept has shaped the
Western view of human nature right up to the present. Boyce traces
a history of original sin from Adam and Eve, St. Augustine, and
Martin Luther to Adam Smith, Sigmund Freud, and Richard Dawkins,
and explores how each has contributed to shaping our conception of
original sin. Boyce argues that despite the marked decline in
church attendance in recent years, religious ideas of morality
still very much underpin our modern secular society, regardless of
our often being unaware of their origins. If today the specific
doctrine has all but disappeared (even from churches), what remains
is the distinctive discontent of Western people--the feelings of
guilt and inadequacy associated not with doing wrong, but with
being wrong. In addition to offering an innovative history of
Christianity, Boyce offers new insights in to the creation of the
West. Born Bad is the sweeping story of a controversial idea and
the remarkable influence it still wields.
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