Oceania Books

Out of the three books I have purchased, this will be the one to go with us to New Zealand. I especially like the detailed maps about each specific area. Since this is a once in a lifetime trip my husband and I are planning, we want to know as much as possible by the time we get there. It has wonderful suggestions for traveling on a budget, yet isn't afraid to reccommend the really good places not to overlook because of price. With all the information we have gleaned, we are starting our inquiries and reservations. We can't wait to go!

The not-too-big size guidebook was handy enough to be carried around. The itineraries and sights recommendation provided an excellent starting point for all first timers, like me, in Copenhagen.

It's a beautiful little book with gorgeous pictures of people and places. Unfortunately, the food and hotel guide is minimal; this could be due to the size of the islands, but I feel this book is best suited for those who want to know more about the history and culture of Tahiti (hence why it's a publication in conjunction with the Discovery Channel). If culture and history are what you're looking for, this little book does a great job.

This is a teacher's edition for International biographies including Corazon Aquino, Buddha, Gandhi, Goolagond, Hammurabi, Hirohito, Genshis and Kublai Khan, Mother Teresa, Mao Zedong, and U Thant.

White's book is a fascinating read for anyone who has ever thought about the question of national identity and how the rest of the world perceives a particular country's people. While White's focus is the Australian identity and the images associated with it, what he has to say applies to the rest of us, as well. His argument is that national identity changes with different ages, but that the images which become those identities, for instance, the World War I "digger" or the "convict" identity which have at different times been seen as "Australian identity," are really the constructions of people in power who believe a particular identity will further their own or the country's aims. The image, then, of the Australian "digger," the tough-minded, uncomplaining and stalwart soldier of World War I, is an identity that was necessary and helpful to those in power as they tried to convince people that Australians had a duty to fight and were good at it. The book may not be as interesting to those who are unfamiliar with these Australian images of themselves, but it is not hard to apply it to American identity. Our own images of ourselves as an "immigrant," "wealthy industrialist," or "pioneering" society are just as vital to our perception of our own history, and just as challenged by White's thesis. However, the book may be most interesting to those who have spent time outside of their own culture or have had experiences being stereotyped because of their nationality. This is a challenging and useful book for anyone who has ever wondered about cultural issues and how national identity is influencing policy and history.

This guide is usefull if you're devoting lot of time to queesland and the great barrier reef. Its best companion is the Lonely Planet Queensland guide (perhaps it's too much information).
But as I'm concerned, Lonely Planet is not doing anymore this guide (and this version is quite old, so it may be not updated).
What a pitty!...

Isles of the South Pacific tells you all about, you guessed it... The isles of the south pacific. These include, Tahiti, The Cook islands, Samon, Tonga, New Zealand, Fiji, New Caledonia, New Hebrides, The Solomons, and New Guinea. With all the stunning photographs from the National Geographic Society!
Although this book is rather outdated... But it's still very interesting as well as educational. And at the price of only a penny plus shipping and handling, what have you got to lose?

This is an excellent facsimile edition of the original publishing in the 19th century. Be forewarned, though, that the publishers have made an error (which may exiat in the original edition from which this facsimile is taken, I don't know). Page 372 of this edition is numbered in sequence, but is a repeat of an earlier page. Thus, when you are reading of Sir Joseph's adventures in Batavia in November 1770, you are reprised with a page dated May 1770. Infurtiatingly, you then miss the appropriate page and miss, sadly, the death of Tupia.

With that caveat, This is an excellent resource, in some ways better than Captain Cook's Journals (though I feel blasphemous in saying that), and as fien a recreational read as you will find in many a year. It also surprises me how much science they actually knew in the late 18th century.

When researching or writing, one important step for a scholar is to write a chronology for reference, and one would have thought that this volume would be a time saver. Well, it is a chronology taken from key source material, but the question remains whether it has anything but the most common information from the standard biographies. I would imagine that the scholar who might benefit most from this title is already familiar with the biographies by Alpers, Tomalin, and recent work by Woods, Ferral, O'Sullivan, Scott, and Smith. While the information here might be accurately collected from other sources, there is the question of whether there's anything new that is really offered. Maybe the bullet point biography has its place, but for this work to be really complete, it would have been more useful to have the entries cited. It is defenseless not to have done so.

One section that also screams to be done more completely is the "Who's Who in the Mansfield Chronology," an attempt at a KM Encyclopedia. All the major players--easily found in previously published sources or online-- are listed, but the first name I went to look for, Jeanne Beauchamp (Renshaw), was not included.

This is a great concept, and one would hope that scholarly libraries will make this available for researchers. However, it may be of limited use for many of the questions that have yet to be answered about this author's work and life.

I read Peter Thomsons first edition of Kava in the Blood and really enjoyed it, but was most excited to find the new edition with photos and illustrations (definitely a huge improvement). The book juxtaposes Thomsons recollections and stories of growing up in a seemingly idyllic Fiji, with the first-hand description of the Fijian coup in 1987. Thomson was Secretary to Governor General, so this is an insiders view and quite fascinating. A great read and highly recommended to anyone hankering for a life under a cocoa nut tree, and for travelers to Fiji this is essential reading.