Free Beyond The Coral Sea: Travels In The Old Empires Of The South-West Pacific (Text Only) Ebooks To Download
A romantic and adventurous journey to the hidden islands and lagoons beyond Papua New Guinea and north of Australia.East of Java, west of Tahiti and north of the Cape York peninsula of Australia lie the unknown paradise islands of the Coral, Solomon and Bismarck Seas. They were perhaps the last inhabited place on earth to be explored by Europeans, and even today many remain largely unspoilt, despite the former presence of German, British and even Australian colonial rulers.Michael Moran, a veteran traveller, begins his journey on the island of Samarai, historic gateway to the old British Protectorate, as the guest of the benign grandson of a cannibal. He explores the former capitals of German New Guinea and headquarters of the disastrous New Guinea Compagnie, its administrators decimated by malaria and murder. He travels along the inaccessible Rai Coast through the Archipelago of Contented Men, following in the footsteps of the great Russian explorer ‘Baron’ Nikolai Miklouho-Maclay.The historic anthropological work of Bronislaw Malinowski guides him through the seductive labyrinth of the Trobriand ‘Islands of Love’ and the erotic dances of the yam festival. Darkly humorous characters, both historical and contemporary, spring vividly to life as the author steers the reader through the richly fascinating cultures of Melanesia.‘Beyond the Coral Sea’ is a captivating voyage of unusual brilliance and a memorable evocation of a region which has been little written about during the past century.Note that it has not been possible to include the same picture content that appeared in the original print version.
File Size: 1815 KB
Print Length: 432 pages
Publisher: Flamingo (June 28, 2012)
Publication Date: June 28, 2012
Sold by: Digital Services LLC
Language: English
ASIN: B008CBDJQQ
Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray: Not Enabled
Word Wise: Enabled
Lending: Not Enabled
Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled
Best Sellers Rank: #1,031,730 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store) #27 in Books > Travel > Australia & South Pacific > Papua New Guinea #374 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Travel > Australia & South Pacific #397 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Ethnic & National > Australian
This is the first book on the Island Provinces of Papua New Guinea rather than the Highlands for a hundred years and what a brilliant book it is! Finely-written with beautiful photographs (particularly of children and island landscapes) as well as excellent maps.Clearly a product of extensive research, this book gives the reader a balanced insight into a vanishing world in a way that is both informative and hugely entertaining. The islands are still almost pristine and 'stone-age' in character but not for much longer I fear. The stories the author tells of characters both historical and modern are almost beyond belief - often hilarious - obviously the apex of European eccentrics vsited New Guinea.This is travel writing of the highest quality about a place most readers are highly unlikely to visit. The account of the great Polish anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski in the Trobriand "Islands of Love" is both penetrating and enlightening. Moran is one of those rare travel writers who respects what he sees and communicates this to the reader with dry humour and deep understanding. As a missionary tells him, life in Papua New Guinea can be both "terrible and wonderful" by turns. Moran steers us through this difficult cultural labyrinth with brilliance. I am looking forward to the Polish edition next year!"Beyond the Coral Sea" will become the standard work and required reading for anyone contemplating a trip to Papua New Guinea - even those who are not.
As a traveller who has spent a total of about 18 months in and around the island regions of Papua New Guinea, I found this book to be just what I look for before and during a trip to any area. Moran's trip illustrated exactly what a traveller will experience while in the country and also gives the historical background so that time is not wasted trying to discover how a culture or area has come to be what it is.While looking over the harbor of Rabaul and seeing the Duke of York Islands and the southern end of New Ireland, I felt as though I could feel the history taking place. Even Moran's encounters with modern day expatriots in airports and towns ring so true to my experiences that I felt he was writing about my trip without me knowing it.It is my goal to gain this insight for every country I visit but it is hardly realized. This book fulfilled that goal for Papua New Guinea and raised the bar for my travel reading in the future.
OBSERVATIONS:- Covers the brief German colonialist period- Investigates issues of poverty, cultural dislocation and crime (the "raskols")- Not so much on cannibalism per se, but it is disconcerting to read how relatively frequently uppity missionaries were eaten!- The Manus Island dances give new meaning to the term "Members Only"PROS- Well-researched- Multiple sets of great photos- Stories of adventurous missionaries and misfits such as Count D'Albertis, the Cambridge Seven, Bronislaw Malinowski, Baron Miklouho-Maclay and of course Errol Flynn- Good exploration of cultural concepts and artifacts such as malagan masks, tubuans, dukduks etc.- Best book chapter is the Essay on Kwato Island - very poignant, poetic and melancholyCONThe balance of memoir, travelogue, history and essay is good but not as good as other travel writers such as Robert D. Kaplan or Bruce Chatwin. Moran has all the right ingredients, but the proportions need tweaking.Great line: "once the tropics infects your blood, it enslaves you like a terminal illness"
This was a satisfying, informative, entertaining and thought provoking read. Having lived in New Zealand and Australia most of my adult life, I have never paddled up to the Coral Sea. I have been to other parts of Polynesia and Melanesia but what is described in this book is a series of cultures different from what I have encountered. Part history, biography and travel story it works on all those levels. It is clear on the legacy of European colonisation and the missionairies role in subverting existing beliefs and traditional tribal structures. Unsuprising many Europeans came to a bad end without quite realising why. The dangerous currents then are still in force today and Mr Moran encounters some of them in his travels. Yet what emerges is the richness of differences, even in short distances-these can often be baffling when on the surface there may be a sameness about the environment, the people and what they appera to do and beleive in. It is a book I shall long treasure.
Beyond the Coral Sea: Travels in the Old Empires of the South-West Pacific (Text Only) Pacific: Silicon Chips and Surfboards, Coral Reefs and Atom Bombs, Brutal Dictators, Fading Empires, and the Coming Collision of the World's Superpowers Fiji's Wild Beauty: A Photographic Guide to Coral Reefs of the South Pacific Inside Out: Literature, Cultural Politics, and Identity in the New Pacific (Pacific Formations: Global Relations in Asian and Pacific Perspectives) Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942 Asia's Cauldron: The South China Sea and the End of a Stable Pacific Between Empires: Print and Politics in Goa (Soas Studies on South Asia (Hardcover)) Empires of the Sea: The Contest for the Center of the World The Mark of the Golden Dragon: Being an Account of the Further Adventures of Jacky Faber, Jewel of the East, Vexation of the West, and Pearl of the South China Sea (Bloody Jack Adventures) A Field Guide to the Coral Reef Fishes of the Indian and Western Pacific Oceans Eschatology, Messianism, and the Dead Sea Scrolls (Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature, V. 1) (Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls & Related Literature) Pacific Coast Tree Finder: A Pocket Manual for Identifying Pacific Coast Trees (Nature Study Guides) America's Great Hiking Trails: Appalachian, Pacific Crest, Continental Divide, North Country, Ice Age, Potomac Heritage, Florida, Natchez Trace, Arizona, Pacific Northwest, New England Karen Brown's Pacific Northwest 2010 (Karen Brown's Pacific Northwest: Exceptional Places to Stay & Itineraries) Coral reefs: A guide to the common invertebrates and fishes of Bermuda, the Bahamas, southern Florida, the West Indies, and the Caribbean coast of ... America (Roger Tory Peterson field guides) Ocean Coloring Book: Underwater Coloring Book for Adults containing Seascapes, Fish, Sealife, Coral, Sea Creatures, Marine Life and More (Coloring Books for Adults) (Volume 1) A City Under the Sea: Life in a Coral Reef Palaces Under the Sea: A Guide to Understanding the Coral Reef Environment Cold-Water Corals: The Biology and Geology of Deep-Sea Coral Habitats The Nature of Florida's Ocean Life : Including Coral Reefs, Gulf Stream, Sargasso Sea, and Sunken Ships
