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Suggested reading on
The Marquesas and Tuamotu Islands and French Polynesia
Wayne Andersen
Gauguin’s Paradise Lost, (New York: Viking, 1971)
Sharon Chester, Heidy Baumgartner, Diana Frechoso and James Oetzel
The Marquesas Islands: Mave Mai, (San Mateo, California: Wandering Albatross, 1998) This comprehensive text covers the geography, history, archaeology, flora and fauna of the Marquesas Islands, a part of French Polynesia. There are color photos and maps of the islands, major towns and archaeological sites. Color photos and drawings of common plants, marine mammals, fish and marine shells illustrate the natural history section. All bird species of the area are described and illustrated. A bibliography and short course on speaking Marquesan are included.
Captain James Cook
The Voyages of the Endeavor, 1768-1771 vol. I of The Journals of Captain James Cook, EDITED BY j.c. Beaglehole, 4 vols. In 5 (Cambridge: Kakuyt Society, 1955)
Bengt Danielsson
Forgotten Islands of the South Seas, translated by F.H. Lyon (London: G. Allen & Unwin, 1957). A book about the Marquesas Islands.
Bengt Danielsson, Gauguin in the South Seas, (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1965)
Bengt Danielsson et P. O’Really
Gauguin, Journaliste a Tahiti et ses Articles des “Guepes” (Paris: Societe des Oceanistes, 1966). A collection of articles by Paul Gauguin which appeared in Les Guepes from June 12, 1899 to August 18, 1901.
Greg Dening
Islands and Beaches: Discourse on a Silent Land, Marquesas, 1774-1880 (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1980)
Greg Dening
The Marquesas (Papeete, Tahiti: Societe Nouvelle des Editions du Pacifique, 1982)
Richard Field
Gauguin and Exotic Art, (Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1970) E.S.C. Handy, Marquesan Legends, (Honolulu, Hawaii: the Museum, 1930; N.Y.: Kraus)
E.S.C. Handy
The Native Culture in the Marquesas (Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Bulletin No. 9, Honolulu: the Museum, 1923; New York: Kraus)
T. Walter Herbert, Jr.
Marquesan Encounters: Melville and the Meaning of Civilization, (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1980)
Thor Heyerdahl
Fatu-Hiva: Back to Nature, (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1974
Ralph Linton
Archeology of the Marquesas Islands, (Honolulu, Hawaii: the Museum 1925; New York: Kraus)
Larry McMurtry
Paradise, (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001) A novel on Larry McMurtry’s trip to the paradise of Tahiti and the South Sea Islands on board the freighter cruise ship, Aranui at a time when his mother was slipping toward a paradise of her own.
Herman Melville
Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas; a Sequel to “Typee; or the Marquesas Islands” (Illinois: Northwestern University Press, 1968)
Herman Melville
Typee: A Real Romance of the South Seas, (New York: New American Library, 1964)
Jan Prince
Tahiti & French Polynesia Guide, (New York: Open Road Publishing, 1998) A comprehensive travel guide to Tahiti and her islands.
Edward Roberts
The Marquesan Journal of Edward Robarts, 1767-1824, edited by Greg Dening, (Honolulu, Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press, 1974)
Yosihiko H. Sinoto and Hideaki Sato
Marquesas Islands, (Tokyo, Japan: Heibonsha Ltd, 1996) A pictorial narrative of the Maruqesas Islands.
Manuiota’a: Journal of a Voyage to the Marquesas Islands, (Boise, Idaho: Pa’eke Press, 2001) As passengers on the freighter Aranui, the authors describe all the islands of this Polynesian paradise, from north to south, from Nuku Hiva to Fatu Iva. In so doing, they do more than merely provide us with a view of the exotic beauty of the Marquesan islands and their charming inhabitants. Their suspense-filled journal gives us insights into the mysterious Marquesan culture and the long and turbulent history of the archipelago, which as been so deeply impacted by colonization.
Robert Louis Stevenson
In the South Seas, Being An Account of Experiences and Observations in the Marquesas, Paumotus and Gilbert Islands in the Course of Two cruises, on the Yacht “Casco” (1888) and the Schooner “Equator” (1889), (Honolulu, Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press, 1971)
