Chapter 1 A Second Diaspora; Chapter 2 Shipping Out; Chapter 3 Rites of Passage; Chapter 4 Contested Decks; Chapter 5 Crosscurrents in Oceania; Chapter 6 From Rim to Shining Rim; Chapter 7 In the Belly of the Beast; Chapter 8 Prodigal Ghosts; Chapter 9 Legacies; Chapter 10 Reflections;
Authored by Chappell, David A.
Chappell (history, Univ. of Hawaii) has combed hundreds of records to identify 250 Pacific Islanders, sometimes called "Kanakas," who sailed on Western ships in the 18th and 19th centuries. Sailing by choice or through "blackbirding," Islanders were found in great numbers on American whaling ships and vessels in the China trade. As they moved around the Pacific, sometimes reaching North and South America and even Europe, they suffered physical mistreatment, cultural devastation, and diseases often resulting in death; a few were even exhibited as curiosities, much like circus freaks. Chappell is concerned with the effects on their cultures and on the peoples with whom they came in contact. His work, with extensive notes and bibliography, is a fresh approach, rich in detail but remarkably lively. It deserves a readership beyond the academic community.‘Harold M. Otness, Southern Oregon State Coll. Lib., Ashland
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