Oceania Books

Writen by the Head of the (Royal) Naval Historical Branch, The Royal Navy and the Falklands War is quite simply the finest account of the naval war yet written. With detailed access to official documents and widely illustrated with photographs form both official and private sources, the book traces the history of the campign from the naval perspective in a day by day, blow by blow account.
The narrative is easy to follow, either as a cover to cover read or a book to dip into for specific information about key events. There is a seperate chapter dealing with ships taken up from trade, (STUFT), and appendices listing all ships from both navies that took part in the war. An excellent read and a "must have" book for the serious reader.

Writen by the Head of the (Royal) Naval Historical Branch, The Royal Navy and the Falklands War is quite simply the finest account of the naval war yet written. With detailed access to official documents and widely illustrated with photographs form both official and private sources, the book traces the history of the campign from the naval perspective in a day by day, blow by blow account.
The narrative is easy to follow, either as a cover to cover read or a book to dip into for specific information about key events. There is a seperate chapter dealing with ships taken up from trade, (STUFT), and appendices listing all ships from both navies that took part in the war. An excellent read and a "must have" book for the serious reader.

This is a Volume I of a two-volume set.

I saw this two-volume book first time in Apia, the capitol city of Samoa. It was the hard copy edition presented in a show case of the Rainforest Restaurant, whose owners were two historians working passionately on a creation of a small museum of Samoan Art and culture of Samoa. I was astonished about the amount of details in this book. The more astonished I was, as I saw how many well situated Samoans were visiting the Swiss/German couple to consult this book regarding their genealogy and heritage! This source might just as well prove predecessors in old Samoan ruling nobility or even... a divine origin!

For a contemporary reader Krämer's book might be a difficult lecture though. Krämer brings together facts and legends. Parts of the text are written in Samoan, and sometimes I could not find out any specific rule for the switching between the German and Samoan languages. Fortunately, mostly one page is in Samoan, and the opposite page is in English, like a Roseta Stone of a kind! The translator of the book, Dr. Verhaaren, remarks in his foreword that Krämer was somewhat inconsistent in his spelling of Samoan words.

In my opinion Krämer created a great documentary, but he was not a good writer. The great amount of details, which Krämer by himself often calls just a hearsay, have probably a great value for scholars or lovers of Polynesian mystique, but they might only confuse casual reader. Nevertheless he seems to be very careful about differentiation between facts and rumors.

One of the interesting aspects of this book are the details about the travels, marriages and wars between Samoans, Tongans and even the Melanesian Fijians. Many contemporary families on Samoa know through these reports that their heritage reaches hundreds of miles apart from Samoa. Samoans were splendid navigators and they undertook numerous long distance voyages. There was a good reason that Samoa earned the name "Navigator Islands" after being discovered by Europeans. Unfortunately, the contemporary Islanders lost solely their ability to navigate on the open Ocean over such distances.

The book contains a large number of beautiful photographs of Samoan people, and of the entire Samoa from the colonial period, in which Great Britain, USA and Germany were still quite friendly nations "negotiating" their spheres of influence in the Pacific. As you might know, Samoa is still a divided country and the American sponsored government in Pago Pago tries to deepen the differences between the Samoans on the neighboring Islands. They feel very cozy in their present arrangement, and so they try to prevent a reunification. It is fascinating to see in this book the Samoa as it once was, a one entity.

This book is a fascinating "must have" collectible for scholars, passionate off road travelers, and everyone else looking for island nostalgia. The publisher, Hawaii Press, made a great effort to provide splendid quality of typesetting and print.

My only regret is that we wait for so many years for a matching release of the Volume II!

The price is right. Get this book!

This is a comprehensive and interesting exposition on the history of Samoa.

It is a privilege that it is now available in English so that the information can be more widely read.

Read this to the five-year-old twice already, and expect to r3ead it lots more. The ten year old was delighted: she joined us and reread the book when we were done.

Recommended. You got to love those cows.

Those loveable Santa Cows take their human friends on a magic carpet ride to the islands! Tropical fun to keep the holiday spirit alive. You'll love the whole Santa Cow Series!

In my first visit to Sydney I covered more ground and learned more about the city than my Sydney-veteran companion had seen in numerous trips. The maps and directions were accurate, and the tidbits were a great combination of history and quirky facts and folklore.

Sydney is a beautiful city and this books gets visitors out of the usual tourist spots. Many of these sites truly are hidden...I found myself searching a graveyard for a unique tomb, walking down a lizard-populated path of rainforest reserve hidden in the middle of a residential area, investigating the mystery of a missing heiress, and scheduling a shiatsu massage (the author was right...getting scrubbed, stepped on, and kneaded was an ideal finale to a day of touring).

For all those who think they know Sydney- be prepared to be amazed!! Interesting facts and local tales enable the reader to rediscover popular tourist areas such as Bondi and Kings Cross. Detailed maps and directions will see you discovering new and beautiful areas known only to locals. For those who love Sydney and those wishing to discover it, this book has something for everyone. Extremely easy to read and immensely enjoyable, see your city with new eyes!!

WWII is a fascinating subject. From the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact, to Germany's secret missile program, to the Manhattan project, the era is packed full of fascinating and often horrific stories of innovation. The story told by Skeeter Beaters is an example of the fascinating. What's great about Skeeter Beaters is that this is a story I hadn't heard before. There's no movie starring John Wayne or Tom Hanks, and not many bullets screaming over the head of the protagonist. Nonetheless, this is a story that should be told. As the editorial review already says, the US was losing many more men to disease than to combat with the Japanese. The US Navy showed good old American innovation by putting a team together assigned to fight the problem. This is the story of that team, and I'm happy that it has been told.

ONCE YOU START TO READ THE BOOK, YOU CAN'T PUT IT DOWN. tHE MEDIC SHOOTING THE JAP IN THE HEAD AFTER TREATING HIM FOR HIS INJURIES. THE FACT THAT OUR (U.S.A.) ENTIRE SUPPLY OF QUININE WAS LOST WHEN THE SHIP CARRYING IT WAS SUNK BY THE JAPS. THE FACT THAT THE MEN ON GUADALCANAL HAD VERY LITTLE FOOD OR SUPPLIES. THIS TRULY IS A BOOK THAT SHOULD BE READ BY EVERYONE.

This book by Rob Oliver, not only contains beautiful graphics of the South West of Western Australia, but its consise history and general information of this area make it a MUST HAVE read. It would make an ideal "coffee table" book and should be available to every tourist establishment in the region. Too often visitors miss these wonderful places that Rob has covered because they "didn't know about them".

Written and illustrated by Rob Oliver, The South West: From Dawn Till Dusk is an utterly stunning, full-color photographic showcase of the glory of nature in the diverse landscapes of Western's Australia's southwest region stretching from Mandurah to Albany. A thoughtful and informative text is enhanced with simply gorgeous color photography documenting and showcasing lavish landscapes, as well as offering the reader social history, background information, and even legends. The South West is a welcome contribution to Photography and Australian Cultural reference collections, and is particularly recommended for tourists, naturalists, and armchair travelers with an abiding interest in spectacular, wild, and hauntingly beautiful nature.

This is a wonderful book, a true story about a man who rose from humble beginnings (nearly starving and walking through a desert to find work) who rose to lead his State in crises and then became a major and respected international Statesman. Sir Hal Colebatch's story should be more widely known, for it casts light on many forgotten aspects of Australia's history before, during and after the Second World War. He was not only an inspiring Statesman, ever conscious of trade as the great force for peace, but in many ways a delightful character. A physically courageous man, he survived an assassination attempt by waterside thugs in 1919, and morally courageous as well, he sacrificed several opportunities in his political career rather than compromise his principles, and spent much of political life fighting powerful vested interests. He emerges too as a delightful compainon in many ways, wise, witty and learned, though he had to leave school at the age of 11. This book, written by the son who was born in his old age, deserves to become a classic.

This is the life of a great Australian who has been in danger of being forgotten. Sir Hal Colebatch left school at 11 and a few years later walked through the desert to the Coolgardie gold-rushes. He camped in a tent, wrapped in newspaper, and when he got a type-writer became a journalist.

A few years later he was chess champion of Western Australia and a few years after that Mining Editor of a major Perth Newspaper. He entered Parliament, became Premier of Western Australia in 1919 and had to cope with the Spanish 'flu epidemic and a major riot on the wharfs. That was in the first quarter of his political career!

He later became Minister for Education, setting up the first country high-schools, West Australian representative in London, editor of the State's official history in 1929 and entered the Senate. There he refused to attend Party meetings on the grounds the Senate was not a Party house, but achieved some important economic reforms. In London again, he was involved in the West Australian secession campaign and, more seriously, travelled to Germany and met leading anti-Nazis who were trying to forestall Nazism by breaking down Germany's trade isolation. He also met Hitler, Goering, Goebbels and other Nazi bosses and was taken on a tour of an early concentration camp.

He also had dealings with Winston Churchill and many other prominent figures. Posted back to Australia in 1939, he campaigned tirelessly for a stronger Australian war-effort, and, after the war, for rational economic and trade policies. A life-long, and often very lonely, free-trader and campaigner against tariffs and other trade-barriers, many of his ideas have since been vindicated. He also worked for other forms of international co-operation.

His first wife died in 1940. He re-married in 1944 and the son of his second marriage, Hal GP Colebatch, a well-known poet, novelist, lawyer and political scientist, has written an absorbing book, charming, scholarly, perceptive, but also detached and objective.

I am so glad I discovered this book! It has given me much to think about and as well as being a warm human document has broadened my appreciation of West Australian history.

During World War II, thousands of young men fought and died in the steaming jungles of the Pacific islands. Many of these men were only teenagers. Some used false birth certificates so they could join the armed forces early. Despite their age, these men developed a bond among themselves unlike any other. These men trained and fought together side by side, each willing to give up his life for a fellow Marine without questions asked. Lawrence F. Kirby was one of these men, and he re-creates his wartime experiences in this excellent collection of personal memoirs.

Kirby joined the Marines at age eighteen and trained at Parris Island, South Carolina. After surviving the rigors of boot camp, he then transferred to Camp LeJeune for advanced infantry training. The next stop was Omaha, Nebraska and finally on to California. During these stops, Kirby polished his fighting skills until, in his own words, he could kill a man with his bare hands. Friendships were developed along the way that lasted for many years.

Kirby served in three island campaigns during the Pacific war: Bougainville, Guam and Iwo Jima. Each presented different challenges, but Kirby managed to survive and return home after the war. Kirby's job was as an infantry scout. He was charged with listening for enemy movement and blazing trails for other groups to follow. He was wounded several times, but he somehow managed to survive.

In his book, Kirby describes several moments; some funny, others poignant. For instance, an entire chapter is devoted to a conversation he held with another Marine whose name Kirby didn't even know. The Marine ended up dying in Kirby's arms later in the battle. Another chapter describes Kirby's first encounter with an enemy soldier. Kirby ended up killing him, but his reaction was one of grief and sorrow. He ended up cradling the dead Japanese soldier in his arms, weeping for him and his family. Some of the lighter moments consisted of booby-trapping a latrine and carousing with his friends

One common theme expressed throughout the book is the unique bond shared by the Marines. Each man was willing to die for his buddies, and the friendship formed between these men was deeper than most other kinds of friendship. There were times when a young soldier threw himself on a live hand grenade to save his fellow comrades, or risk saving a wounded comrade under heavy enemy fire. These men never questioned their actions, they simply reacted, and knew that others would do the same for them. In Kirby's words, he saw each Marine as a brother in a common struggle, and each man was dedicated to helping every other man to survive.

This is an excellent book. Lawrence Kirby does a wonderful job of describing what life was like as a Marine fighting in the Pacific. He covers the full spectrum; from funny pranks on fellow Marines to holding a buddy in his arms and watching him die. There is great humor, but there is also great terror. Kirby experienced both, and he does a masterful job of describing each emotion in his book.

I give this fine book my highest recommendation. Marines shared a unique bond, and Lawrence Kirby describes that bond. The love for one another and the mutual support and inspiration were what enabled these brave men to sustain during the horrible campaigns of the Pacific war.

The is a really a lovely collection of short stories told by a real "mud marine". Each stories covers part of Mr. Kirby's war-time experience, from hilarious incidents to heartbreaking events. Finish one chapter laughing, the next with tears in your eyes. Moreover, the tone of this book is less gung-ho shoot 'em up story telling, but more of a tribute to fallen brothers, and the transformation of a young wise-cracking kid into a man sickened to this day by the concept of war. Terrific details of life during the battles on Iwo Gima and Guam.

great book well researched honors the men who fought in some of the most
horrible conditions in WWII

Tanks On The Beaches: A Marine Tanker In The Pacific War is the memoir of Robert M. Neiman, a United States Marine Corps combat commander, who served in the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. A tale of struggling against an implacably determined foe, tracing the journey from the deadly fields war in the Pacific, to the uncertainties of war's aftermath, to the voyage home, Tanks On The Beaches (written with the assistance of Kenneth W. Estes) offers a vivid and firsthand account and is a welcome and highly recommended contribution to the growing library of World War II battlefield autobiographies and memoirs.

I've been searching for a book other than a tourist's guide to New Zealand to learn more about my husband's home country. This is the book! Filled with lots of relevant (and recent) information, including gorgeous photos, this book is amazing. I can't wait to visit this beautiful country with him and see it for myself!

I recently bought my first copy of this book in the Auckland airport. I ordered my second copy for a friend. In addition to being a beautiful "picture book" with photos the quality that I wish I had taken while there, this book provides extensive text with factual information on most aspects of life in New Zealand ranging from the land and its climate, its fauna and flora to its history and the quality of life there today. This is a great book for anyone planning a visit or wishing to recall the special beauties of this wonderful country after returning from a visit. Or you may "visit" this country through this book. It is a very up-to-date publication, we even recognized photos of some of the same Maori performers we saw in concert during our recent visit! This is a very comprehensive publication, I think that it is outstanding!