An incisive, evocative history of the experience of empire in the Oceanic world

This compelling book explores the lived experience of empire in the Pacific, the last region to be contacted and colonized by Europeans following the great voyages of Captain Cook. Unlike conventional accounts that emphasize confrontation and the destruction of indigenous cultures, Islanders reveals there was gain as well as loss, survival as well as suffering, and invention as well as exploitation.

Empowered by imaginative research in obscure archives and collections, Thomas rediscovers a rich and surprising history of encounters, not only between Islanders and Europeans, but among Islanders, brought together in new ways by explorers, missionaries, and colonists. He tells the story of the making of empire, not through an impersonal survey, but through vivid stories of the lives of men and women—some visionary, some vicious, and some just eccentric—and through sensuous evocation of seascapes and landscapes of the Pacific. A fascinating re-creation of an Oceanic world, Islanders offers a new paradigm, not only for histories of the Pacific, but for understandings of cultural contact everywhere.

"Thomas’ description of the journey into the imperial world of the Pacific is made inclusive and companionable with lovely asides… [a] comprehensive but gripping book"—Katrina Schlunke, Times Higher Education Supplement - Times Higher Education Supplement

"Islanders is not only a fine work of scholarship but also a lucid and engrossing read."—Rod Edmond, BBC History Magazine - BBC History Magazine

"“The islanders’ minds and feelings may be inaccessible in purely anthropological terms, but Thomas provides ample evidence to allow readers to fill in the gaps.”—Dr. Andrew Rudd, Church Times" - Church Times

"Joint winner of the 2010 Wolfson History Prize given by the Wolfson Foundation" - Wolfson Foundation

"Enjoyably readable."—G.E. Marcus, Choice - Choice

"“Thomas has written a work of scholarship that merits close attention and, at the same time, that presumes a ready grasp of the vast geography of the Pacific. His analysis is thoughtful and often thought-provoking.”—Tim Severin, Irish Examiner" - Irish Examiner