Few can resist the lure of pristine beaches, endless coral reefs, and blazing tropical suns. The South Pacific is still largely unspoiled for travelers willing to stray a little off the beaten path. This reference gives readers a bird's-eye view of the many island groups that make up the area.

Whether it's the legends about breadfruit trees or ghosts inhabiting inland Tahiti, the endangered delicacies to avoid or the gift-giving protocol when invited to a local's home, how to tour a vanilla plantation on Raiatea or when to find the Nouméa flame trees "catch fire" in hues of red and orange, South Pacific Handbook covers everything about this region of boundless ocean and scarce land. Drawing on two decades of editions and incorporating the comments of countless previous readers, this user-friendly guide extends beyond the hot spots and steers readers off the beaten path throughout Polynesia and Melanesia.

When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, James A. Michener was an obscure textbook editor working in New York. Within three years, he was a naval officer stationed in the South Pacific. By the end of the decade, he was an accomplished author, well on the way to worldwide fame. Michener’s first novel, Tales of the South Pacific, won the Pulitzer Prize. Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein used it as the basis for the Broadway musical South Pacific, which also won the Pulitzer. How this all came to be is the subject of Stephen May’s Michener’s South Pacific. An award-winning biographer of Michener, May was a featured interviewee on the fiftieth-anniversary DVD release of the film version of the musical. During taping, he realized there was much he didn’t know about how Michener’s experiences in the South Pacific shaped the man and led to his early work. May delves deeply into this formative and turbulent period in Michener’s life and career, using letters, journal entries, and naval records to examine how a reserved, middle-aged lieutenant known as "Prof" to his fellow officers became one of the most successful writers of the twentieth century.

A comprehensive guide to the 16 territories of Polynesia and Melanesia, not just the popular spots. This is a guide for the budget traveller to the whole of the South Pacific.

Details of harbours and anchorages in the Pacific south of the equator between New Guinea and South America.

Rodgers and Hammerstein's Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical "South Pacific" has remained a mainstay of the American musical theater since it opened in 1949, and its powerful message about racial intolerance continues to resonate with twenty-first century audiences. Drawing on extensive research in the Rodgers and the Hammerstein papers, including Hammerstein's personal notes on James A. Michener's Tales of the South Pacific, Jim Lovensheimer offers a fascinating reading of "South Pacific" that explores the show's complex messages and demonstrates how the presentation of those messages changed throughout the creative process. Indeed, the author shows how Rodgers and especially Hammerstein continually refined and softened the theme of racial intolerance until it was more acceptable to mainstream Broadway audiences. Likewise, Lovensheimer describes the treatment of gender and colonialism in the musical, tracing how it both reflected and challenged early Cold War Era American norms. The book also offers valuable background to the writing of "South Pacific," exploring the earlier careers of both Rodgers and Hammerstein, showing how they frequently explored serious social issues in their other works, and discussing their involvement in the political movements of their day, such as Hammerstein's founding membership in the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League. Finally, the book features many wonderful appendices, including two that compare the original draft and final form of the classic songs "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Out-a My Hair" and "I'm In Love With a Wonderful Guy." Thoroughly researched and compellingly written, this superb book offers a rich, intriguing portrait of a Broadway masterpiece and the era in which it was created.

Explore the volcanic peaks of the Marquesas or shop in Papeete's vibrant marketplace. All the essentials to discovering this tropical paradise are presented in an easy-to-use format. Photos & illustrations. Maps.