Remaking Micronesia - by David L Hanlon (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

America's efforts at economic development in the Caroline, Mariana, and Marshall Islands proved to be about transforming in dramatic fashion people who occupied real estate deemed vital to American strategic concerns. Called "Micronesians," these island people were regarded as other, and their otherness came to be seen as incompatible with American interests.

And so, underneath the liberal rhetoric that surrounded arguments, proposals, and programs for economic development was a deeper purpose. America's domination would be sustained by the remaking of these islands into places that had the look, feel, sound, speed, smell, and taste of America - had the many and varied plans actually succeeded. However, the gap between intent and effect holds a rich and deeply entangled history.

Remaking Micronesia stands as an important, imaginative, much needed contribution to the study of Micronesia, American policy in the Pacific, and the larger debate about development. It will be an important source of insight and critique for scholars and students working at the intersection of history, culture, and power in the Pacific.

Review Quotes

Brave, outspoken, and controversial, ... a 'must' read for anyone interested in the neocolonial or postcolonial Pacific world.-- "The Contemporary Pacific"

Clearly-written and well-organized ... a tour de force.-- "Journal of the Polynesian Society"

Hanlon has written a thorough, important, and timely addition to U.S. and Pacific Islands historiography.-- "Pacific Historical Review"

Hanlon is masterful here, as in his other works, in portraying the various cultural understandings of a historic event.... [He] writes convincingly and with rare insight when he analyzes such situations in a cross-cultural framework.-- "American Historical Review"