Islands of History [Paperback]

Marshall Sahlins (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0226733580 | ISBN-13: 978-0226733586 | Publication Date: April 15, 1987 | Edition: 1

Marshall Sahlins centers these essays on islands—Hawaii, Fiji, New Zealand—whose histories have intersected with European history. But he is also concerned with the insular thinking in Western scholarship that creates false dichotomies between past and present, between structure and event, between the individual and society. Sahlins's provocative reflections form a powerful critique of Western history and anthropology.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Marshall Sahlins is the Charles F. Grey Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of Chicago. The author of numerous books, Sahlins is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press; 1 edition (April 15, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226733580
• ISBN-13: 978-0226733586
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #485,102 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well written book, January 14, 2007

By 

Basil A. Reid - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Islands of History (Paperback)

Marshall Sahlins, a renowned expert in Polynesian archaeology, has produced an excellent, well-written book that focuses on synchrony and diachrony in archaeology, as reflected in the early encounters between Captain Cook and the early Polynesians. This book is essential reading for scholars interested in the concepts of cyclical and linear time. The text also demonstrates that the early Polynesians, like many other non-western societies, in fact had a dynamic, recursive history before European contact; a history not based on written records but rather on a rich array of oral traditions. Essentially, this book can be used as an important frame of reference for scholars of other early oceanic societies, for example pre-Columbian societies in the Caribbean, particularly with respect to issues of European contact and indigenous time reckoning and time conception.

22 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Warning: Magic Decoder Ring Not Included, October 11, 2005

By 

Robin Hode "trail baston" (Knoxville, TN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Islands of History (Paperback)

As a graduate student in history, I was intrigued by Sahlins subject. However, Sahlins does his best to hide his subject from any reader not in "the club" -- i.e. anyone who does not speak the jargon of a structuralist (or post-structuralist) anthropologist. Sahlins is a very inaccessible (and is thus, by most rules of writing, a BAD) writer, whose elitist attitude negates any interest I may have had in his subject matter.

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent story of culture, February 7, 2008

By 

A. Ray Sr. "all-wise" (chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Islands of History (Paperback)

Highly recommend this book, especially cultural historians. It is amazing to read the blend of Island and British culture.