Ben Waber reviewed Voyagers by Nicholas Thomas
This is the Pacific Island History You're Looking For
5 stars
This book is a historical triumph, with Thomas deftly weaving together deep historical and archaeological data to provide a revelatory account of the Pacific Islands without unduly privileging European perspectives. Importantly, by using more modern understandings of migratory history Thomas insightfully parses the different early written accounts to help give clarity to the relationships between different islands, political trajectories, lifeways, and navigational techniques. This is not a long book, and so it doesn't go very deep on any particular people, and so rather serves as an authoritative overarching entry point to this region's history. Highly recommend
This book is a historical triumph, with Thomas deftly weaving together deep historical and archaeological data to provide a revelatory account of the Pacific Islands without unduly privileging European perspectives. Importantly, by using more modern understandings of migratory history Thomas insightfully parses the different early written accounts to help give clarity to the relationships between different islands, political trajectories, lifeways, and navigational techniques. This is not a long book, and so it doesn't go very deep on any particular people, and so rather serves as an authoritative overarching entry point to this region's history. Highly recommend