published in 2007 by Elsevier, 302 pages
This book outlines the history of the Pacific, including its continental rim, over the last thousand years or so. Even though I based my synthesis on solid data – drawn from geoscience, climate science, archaeology and anthropology – this book proved controversial. This was largely because the arguments I proposed were based on the idea that climate changes (and the effects they had) were the main cause of abrupt unplanned societal change in the region before it became known to outsiders.
Such ideas were like heresy to some scholars, especially archaeologists who for decades had based their complex models of societal change on human factors, like population growth and the emergence of societal complexity. They ignored environmental changes – most still do, would you believe – still thinking like their predecessors half a century ago that the environment is a mere passive backdrop to the human drama. Ask Pacific Islanders battered by freakishly strong cyclones in the last five years what they think of that!
I am still wedded to the ideas in this book. More evidence in their support is uncovered every year and younger archaeologists are gradually becoming more persuaded by the argument. But I reckon it will take another decade before enough of the last of the old guard sail off the edge of the world and we can debate these ideas on their merit rather than on the basis of prejudice.
This book can be purchased online from Elsevier. The list of chapters is here.