Houses Far from Home: British Colonial Space in the New Hebrides [Paperback]

Margaret Critchlow Rodman (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 247 pages
• Publisher: Univ of Hawaii Pr (March 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 082482394X
• ISBN-13: 978-0824823948
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,867,880 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable colonial oral history, February 20, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Houses Far from Home: British Colonial Space in the New Hebrides (Paperback)

The bulk of this book consists of fascinating, funny interviews with former colonial British and French officials (and their families) on the Anglo-French Pacific island colony of the New Hebrides. There are also interviews with some of the older island locals of the colony's successor, Vanuatu. Included are many interesting black and white pictures of houses and public buildings (all modest by comparison with, say, the buildings of British India), and these compliment the colourful anecdotes and stories of life in this colonial (and modern) backwater.

The book is prefaced with a chapter containing the author's academic thesis. This I found jargon-laden and ineptly written. But no matter, the bulk of the book with all its fasciniting tales and personalities, and the pictures, make this a strange and fascinating little book. It will appeal to the curiosity of the general reader as well as to anyone who has lived abroad in a colony/ex-colony and was surrounded by interesting imperial architure, grand or modest.

If you like Jan Morris's books, like Hong Kong or Stones of Empire, this will make an enjoyable if eccentric addition to your library.