Warm review of TUPAIA

Great review in LANDFALL

Nicholas Reid, a very experienced and highly regarded reviewer, has produced a thorough and thoughtful review of Tupaia, the Remarkable Story of Captain Cook's Polynesian Navigator for this iconic literary magazine.

"Our post-colonial age acknowledges that Europeans have often taken credit for things that were none of their doing," he begins, going on to say, "Thus the aims of Joan Druett's handsome book will not surprise us."

However, "The most remarkable thing about this solidly researched book, even as it wears its learning lightly, is its even-handed anthropology ... her speculation is intelligent, honest, credible, and drawn from good sources ...

"As I read and enjoyed sympathetic and vivid descriptions of pre-European life and customs in Tupaia: the Remarkable Story of Captain Cook's Polynesian Navigator, I understood how much intelligent and responsible inference these involved too."

He also warmly commends the design of the book, saying,  "This is a nicely presented, solid, square-set piece of hardback book production, well-illustrated with maps, charts, portraits and a generous selection of Tupaia's own artworks ... With its wide margins surrounding blocks of text, it is a pleasure to hold it open."