Australia & Oceania Books - Page 6

Tracks

Robyn Davidson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 33 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Writing from the Guts 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

The integrity of this writing, this soul-baring, reminded me of Doug Peacock's Grizzly Years: a flight from the insanities of civilization into the healing refuge of nature's raw dangers. Tracks was written by a rare bird; this is writing from the guts. For a first book, exploding out of nowhere, chronicling a soul in search of what is ultimately significant, Robyn Davidson has got the write stuff. Intrepid is the word.

The crystalline expressions of her soul match the purity and desolation of the Outback landscapes. Even a guy like Edward Abbey was swept up in admiration for the courage of this person to embark on her 9 month odyssey. Truly a remarkable book - 5 plus stars.

Extracts: A Field Guide for Iconoclasts

Editorial Review:

A cult classic with an ever-growing audience, Tracks is the brilliantly written and frequently hilarious account of a young woman's odyssey through the deserts of Australia, with no one but her dog and four camels as companions. Davidson emerges as a heroine who combines extraordinary courage with exquisite sensitivity. 16 pages of photos.

The Emperor's Silent Army: Terracotta Warriors of Ancient China

Jane O'Connor

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Hidden arrows, Poisoned King, and Buried Treasure! 5 out of 5 stars.
27 of 31 people found this review helpful.

Rich with exciting historical details, The Emperor's Silent Army: Terracotta Warriors of Ancient China by Jane O'Connor offers a well-researched book that tantalizes the reader with tales of a poisoned King, a camouflaged dead body, and a booby-trapped tomb. The targeted audience of ages 9-12 will thrill with the adventure while simultaneously profiting from their newfound knowledge of China's first Emperor, Qin Shihuang, and his war and burial customs. Heavily strewn with color photographs, computer images, maps, drawings, and charts, the book easily captures interest and successfully holds attention with its succinct wording and short chapters that directly complement the images.
Jane O'Connor's career spanning roles as editor-at-large, president of mass market children's books at Penguin, and prolific author is crowned by her most recent gem, The Emperor's Silent Army: Terracotta Warriors of Ancient China. Realizing that no children's books had thoroughly documented the world wonder discovered in China, O'Connor successfully fills the void. This book is a must for any library!
The only negative aspect is that the book fails to be part of a larger history series since once the book is read, the reader will want to read more. The detailed bibliography and author's note provide a scope for further reading on the Terracotta Warriors, but readers will long to learn the same concise and tantalizing information on other subjects as well! Hopefully, Jane O'Connor will follow with more books to engage children and adults since The Emperor's Silent Army: Terracotta Warriors of Ancient China masterfully explores its subject.

Editorial Review:

Describes the archaeological discovery of thousands of life-sized terracotta warrior statues in northern China in 1974, and discusses the emperor who had them created and placed near his tomb.

Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900-1900 (Canto)

Alfred W. Crosby

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 22 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A landmark (but dated) study on the ecological dimension of European expansion 4 out of 5 stars.
7 of 8 people found this review helpful.

Alfred Crosby is widely credited for popularising the ecological dimension of the history of imperial expansion. For this reason, and perhaps this reason alone, his book is worth a read.

The book, first published in 1986, revolutionised the way we think about European imperial expansion into the New World. How a few hundred disoriented Europeans armed with spears and misfiring guns managed to overwhelm entire Inca and Aztec civilisations in the early sixteenth century, for example. Crosby convincingly casts aside traditional political or military explanations by attributing the astonishing Portuguese and Spanish victories to bacteriology: how diseases such as smallpox and measles that the Europeans unwittingly carried with them wiped out thousands of New World inhabitants, severely crippling their defences.

The larger point that Crosby drives across is a profound one. Historical events - in this case, European expansion and imperialism - can be explained predominantly by ecological factors. In the clash of `biotas' between the Old and the New World, the Old World won. Convincingly. Hence the presence not just of Europeans in the Americas, but also of pigs and dandelions. According to this thesis, ecology shaped European expansion; creating `Neo-Europes' in the New World that facilitated European migration, precipitating the `Caucasian wave' from the 1820s to the 1930s. Unlike in most other histories, in Crosby's ecological history, humans form the backdrop and inexorable ecological forces take centre-stage.

Refreshing as this perspective is, the way that Crosby has rendered it is problematic in on a number of accounts. By excluding humans from the picture; or at best relegating human developments to the sidelines, Crosby emerges with a dangerously reductive picture of historical development. Deterministic ecological explanations cannot alone account for European expansion - after all, we must not forget that the first European transoceanic voyages were motivated by curiosity rather than necessity. More problematic is the book's implicit assumption that ecological influence was unidirectional. In concentrating on explicating the Old World's ecological victory over the New, Crosby neglects to examine the influence that New World ecology had on the Old.

Nonetheless, Crosby's work remains a landmark study that deserves a read. Moreover, it packs a punch as a piece of writing - its lucid narratives and provocative assertions laid out with the bold and elegant strokes of a master-artist. Yet Crosby's work is also increasingly a dated study that has been qualified over and over by new works in the field, or in the related field of environmental history. Those interested in the subject should by no means stop at Crosby's book.

Editorial Review:

People of European descent form the bulk of the population in most of the temperate zones of the world - North America, Australia and New Zealand. The military successes of European imperialism are easy to explain; in many cases they were a matter of firearms against spears. But as Alfred Crosby explains in his highly original and fascinating book, the Europeans' displacement and replacement of the native peoples in the temperate zones was more a matter of biology than of military conquest.

Then There Were None

Martha H. Noyes

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Subjects -> History -> Americas -> United States -> State & Local -> Hawaii

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Great start about the Hawaiian people and what happened to them 4 out of 5 stars.
11 of 14 people found this review helpful.

I appreciate Martha H. Noyes efforts in retelling the story of what happened to the indigenous Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands. She has depicted much of what happened to my ancestors and their people. Mahalo nui loa! I do, however, agree with Mr. Llora that there is indeed blame being held, and as usual it is all about "Europeans, Americans and Whites". The Hawaiian people, like many indigenous peoples around the world, especially many of the Pacific Islanders, were isolated from the diseases, illnesses and sickness that people of Europe and Asia had. Certainly because of the exploration primarily and firstly by Europeans, whether British, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Russian or French, the first contacts were with Europeans and therefore the first diseases, venereal (from Tahiti), smallpox and influenza, that decimated Pacific Islanders, like the Hawaiians, were of European origin. However, as time went by and the Hawaiian people established a constitutional monarchy, guiding their way into the modern world as an independent, soveriegn nation and Euro-Polynesian country, a few "White Americans" illegally stole the country of Hawai'i. These elite non-Hawaiians then imported massive waves of foreigners, unabated and without a care in the world to the impact upon the Hawaiian people, primarly from Asia, especially Japan and China, but also from Portugal, with a few from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Austria and Prussia, who also carried with them their illnesses, diseases and sicknesses of which the already decimated Hawaiian people had no immunity to. The Hawaiians were further killed off by tuberculosis, influenza, Hansens Disease (from China), colds, fevers, smallpox (from San Francisco's Chinatown) and measles. Today, the descendants of the imported foreigners have outpopulated and supplanted the Hawaiian people and their descendants. In this world of warped political correctness, the facts, truth and authenticity of history and people are in danger of disappearing. As a hapa (of mixed blood), a hapa Hawai'i (part Hawaiian), as well as Chinese, Native American, European, English and British ancestry, I am tired of the same "facts of blame" being leveled at only one type of people as if "skincolor" or "race" is synonymous with "disease carrier" as in reference to the Hawaiian people, my people, my ancestors, my kupuna in my 'aina hanau of the Hawaiian Islands. It doesn't matter where the foreigners to Hawai'i's shores were from, they were human beings who brought disease that impacted the Hawaiian people, regardless of "race", "skincolor", ethnicity, nationality or origins. The fact remains that the Hawaiian people were devastated and decimated, and never had the chance nor opportunity to bring their country into the modern world.

Editorial Review:

Then There Were None, by award-winning Honolulu writer and artist Martha H. Noyes, is a personal and emotional account, in words and pictures, of the effect of Western contact on the Hawaiian population. Drawing from a variety of sources, Noyes chronicles the effects, from the arrival of Capt. Cook to the present, of disease, written language, the missionaries, landownership, the overthrow of the monarchy, and the suppression of hula and Hawaiian language, concluding with a look at present-day activism. Photographs vividly contrast tourist images with scenes from the real Hawai‘i and highlight the contrast between a culture rooted in cosmology and the material culture of those who made Hawai‘i their own.

The Explorers: Stories of Discovery and Adventure from the Australian Frontier

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A mark on history 3 out of 5 stars.
3 of 10 people found this review helpful.

Australia's small history makes a book like this diffifult to stay interested in. Of course, we are a lucky country fortunate enough to have prospered from these fine explorers and Flannery captures this brilliantly. But there is a time when the discoveries of a new animal or native remind the reader of how quickly one can lose their mind to something else as one can't help but take it for granted or compare their countries history with one far greater and more enlightening from a place such as Great Britain or America. However, Flannery is aiming to make Australian history sit right up there amongst the cream of the crop for a rich past - we as the reader know this isn't possible but feel a sense of pride in what these explorers did to help develop our free and thriving country. The author does not have much to contribute within the book. He writes a few brief footnotes or may stretch himself to an introduction of a small to mid paragraph for each. Yet, we must remind ourselves this is a history book so there is not much room for creativity. I suggest this book is worthwhile for someone passionate or interested in the Australian history, but if you are made to read this whether it be school or uni do it in sections. Otherwise, you will find it tedious. In the end you will find it rewarding - especially (as an Australian resident) when you next visit Botany Bay, Cape York or wherever it may be.......you will stop and think at just how lucky we are.

Editorial Review:

A lively collection of extraordinary stories of adventure and discovery Explorers tells the epic saga of the conquest and settlement of Australia. Editor Tim Flannery selects sixty-seven accounts that convey the sense of wonder and discovery, along with the human dimensions of struggle and deprivation, which occurred in the exploration of the last continent to be fully mapped by Europeans. Beginning with the story of Dutch captain Willem Janz's 1606 expedition at Cape York -- the bloody outcome of which would sadly foreshadow future relations between colonists and Aboriginal peoples -- and running through Robyn Davidson's 1977 camelback ride through the desolate Outback deserts Explorers bristles with the enterprise that Flannery explains as "heroic, for nowhere else did explorers face such an obdurate country."

Wise Women of the Dreamtime: Aboriginal Tales of the Ancestral Powers

K. Langloh Parker

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Aboriginal Stories 5 out of 5 stars.
97 of 98 people found this review helpful.

I bought this book with the hope of finding something more authentic than some of the more popular books on Australian Aboriginal culture I'd read. Though these stories have been collected, translated and compiled by Anglo Australians, my impression is that the authenticity of these stories has been retained. I do believe my authenticity-meter is pretty accurate. However, I have no authority on the subject, and would love to see a review here from someone who does. In absence of such, I hope my review is helpful to others.

Each story is followed by Johanna Lambert's commentary. Lambert draws parallels between concepts in these stories, and myths of other cultures. She also explains the contextual beliefs of Aboriginal people in a way that I found helpful and seems respectful to me. At times the psychoanalytical perspective seems a bit forced when applied to these stories and Aboriginal culture in general. I wonder if psychoanalysis is universal enough to be applicable to something so ancient and whole in and of itself. For the most part, though, I found the analysis helpful, and if you don't, you can just read the stories and skip the analysis which follows.

If your exposure to Aboriginal culture from the women's perspective is limited to Lynn Andrews or Marlo Morgan, I highly recommend you read this book. Also a great book for anthropologists and students of shamanism or global spirituality. Or, if you enjoyed "Rabbit-Proof Fence," if you just like to hear about different perspectives than your own or want to understand the various people of the world, this book is for you. Recommended.

~heidimo

Editorial Review:

Women's stories from the world's oldest tradition, this collection of Australian Aboriginal myths was compiled at the turn of the century by K. Langloh Parker, one of the first Europeans to realize their significance. Here, women tell of their own ceremonies, relationships, and behavioral codes, bringing into focus the Aboriginal world view, in which humanity and nature exist in balance and harmony. (Inner Traditions International)

Kaua'I Trails: Walks, Strolls, and Treks on the Garden Island (Kauai Trails: Walks, Strolls & Treks on the Garden Island)

Kathy Morey

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Subjects -> Outdoors & Nature -> Hiking & Camping -> Excursion Guides -> General
Subjects -> Outdoors & Nature -> Hiking & Camping -> Excursion Guides -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Excellent trail book 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.

I can't imagine the trip we took without this guide. It took us along trails that were stunning and amazingly little traveled. I felt like we saw the REAL Kauai. Surely it wasn't the hotels at the shore. Our only complaint is that some of the trails narrowed without warning at high altitudes and in places that seemed less than safe - especially along the Napoli coast. But all in all it made our trip the excellent journey that it was.

No longer useful 1 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This book may once have been useful, but we found it outdated to the point of uselessness. Some of the trails described no longer meaningfully existed as such, and one was a dirt road with a heavy 4wd traffic. After having been mislead one too many times, we abandoned this book completely and relied only on the trail descriptions in The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook: Kauai Revealed (Ultimate Kauai Guidebook). That said, we looked to this book only for hikes, not beach walks and the like. It may be that it is a very competent guide for strolls. This book doesn't describe that many more hikes than the Ultimate Guidebook does, but the way some trails are broken into several hikes makes it seem at first glance that it does.

Editorial Review:

The most popular of the Hawaiian islands for backpacking and hiking. Explore miles of seldom-trod trails through areas of magnificent natural beauty: immense waterfalls, untrammeled golden beaches, dense banks of ferns dotted with wild orchids, and more. Dayhikes and backpacks.

Ada BlackJack: A True Story of Survival in the Arctic

Jennifer Niven

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 28 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Fascinating story 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

I loved this book. It joins a spate of other books constructed in much the same way. It is reminiscent of James Michner'ss books, with the construction of personal stories amid the history. The research she did was wonderful. It is interesting how one event can ripple out and connect with and touch so many other lives. This was not even what would be termed a particularly charged event (such as one that would garner world news coverage), yet led to connections everywhere. It is fascinating and she has done a wonderful job with it. I was fascinated with the historical beginnings of Chautauqua. In the present gas crunch it seems like they might be looking at bringing back the concept. What a delightful thought - to have all of that wonderful esoteric knowledge traveling all over the country.

The character of Ada was fascinating. A young Native American who, to hear the boys tell it, wanted nothing more that a white man. After escaping a marriage to an abusive previous husband she is looking for more stability in her life and dealing with a serious case of northern SAD. To make things worse she has not been raised as totally `native' as they thought she had. The general perceptions that regular society in general had for this woman were heartbreaking and incorrect. A sexuality that in an educated Caucasian society is viewed as normal becomes promiscuous in the Native American. Verbalization is different. The totemic thought form is different. I felt that the way the author dealt with these issues was wonderful. Rather than infuse the book with a condescending attitude she simply stated what had happened.

Ada was a strong woman but it seems that some of the troubles and betrayals she went through took a toll on her heart and health. I wonder if we as a society will ever figure out a way to `develop character' without beating people senseless. There was one line that was particularly moving.

I would recommend this book to anyone. It was wonderful and a great way to learn history. After reading this I'll have to read her first book.

Editorial Review:

Now in paperback, the gripping and inspiring tale of a woman's survival alone in the Arctic.

In 1921, four men and one woman ventured deep into the Arctic. Two years later, only one returned.

When 23-year-old Inuit Ada Blackjack signed on as a seamstress for a top-secret Arctic expedition, her goal was simple: earn money and find a husband. But her terrifying experiences -- both in the wild and back in civilization -- comprise one of the most amazing untold adventures of the 20th century. Based on a wealth of unpublished materials, including Ada's never-before-seen diaries, bestselling author Jennifer Niven narrates this true story of an unheralded woman who became an unlikely hero.

Coming of Age in Samoa: A Psychological Study of Primitive Youth for Western Civilisation (Perennial Classics)

Margaret Mead

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Rarely do science and literature come together in the same book.  When they do -- as in Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, for example -- they become classics, quoted and studied by scholars and the general public alike.

Margaret Mead accomplished this remarkable feat not once but several times, beginning with Coming of Age in Samoa.   It details her historic journey to American Samoa, taken where she was just twenty-three, where she did her first fieldwork.  Here, for the first time, she presented to the public the idea that the individual experience of developmental stages could be shaped by cultural demands and expectations.  Adolescence, she wrote, might be more or less stormy, and sexual development more or less problematic in different cultures.  The "civilized" world, she taught us had much to learn from the "primitive."  Now this groundbreaking, beautifully written work as been reissued for the centennial of her birth, featuring introductions by Mary Pipher and by Mead's daughter, Mary Catherine Bateson.

A Brief History of the Vikings: The Last Pagans or the First Modern Europeans? (Brief History Series)

Jonathan Clements

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Subjects -> History -> World -> Medieval

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Between the eighth and eleventh centuries, the Vikings surged from their Scandinavian homeland to trade and raid along the coasts of Europe. Their influence extended from Newfoundland to Baghdad, their battles were as far-flung as Africa and the Arctic. But were they great seafarers or desperate outcasts, noble heathens or oafish pirates, the last pagans or the first of the modern Europeans? This concise study puts medieval chronicles, Norse sagas and Muslim accounts alongside more recent research into ritual magic, genetic profiling and climatology. It includes biographical sketches of some of the most famous Vikings, from Erik Bloodaxe to Saint Olaf, from King Canute to Leif the Lucky. Extending beyond the traditional ‘Viking age' of most books, A Brief History of the Vikings also places sudden Scandinavian population movements in a wider historical context. It presents a balanced appraisal of these infamous sea kings, explaining both their swift expansion and its supposed halt. Supposed because the Vikings never really went away. Instead, posits Clements, they became a part of who we are today.