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This book gives a brief history of the Pacific Islands, and would be good for anyone looking for a casual read.  The book is a short and efficient summary of a long history of a region of peoples.  However, for anyone doing research, I would stay away from this book.  There is little to no specific data in the book, but rather a series of summaries.  Also, this book pertains to history only, so anyone looking for other information (i.e., culture, geography, genetics) will not find what they are looking for here.  Even for historical research, this book is not friendly, as its chapters are not marked by year or period, but rather given very general titles.  Also, the index in the back barely contains any terms and is hardly worth including at all.  As I mentioned, this would make an interesting private read, but it’s too sparse and disorganized for academic purposes.