Christina Thompson: Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia

Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia – Christina Thompson – 9780062060877 – Harper – Hardcover – 384 pages – $29.99 – March 12, 2019 – ebook editions also available at lower prices, varying by outlet.

“I loved this book. I found Sea People the most intelligent, empathic, engaging, wide-ranging, informative, and authoritative treatment of Polynesian mysteries that I have ever read. Christina Thompson’s gorgeous writing arises from a deep well of research and succeeds in conjuring a lost world.”
– Dava Sobel, bestselling author of Longitude and The Glass Universe

I completely agree with Dava Sobel. This is an incredible book, probably the best introduction to the ancient and modern world of the Polynesian people of the Pacific islands you could ever read. She starts with an anecdote of modern Polynesia that aptly sets the scene for the entire story. Thompson is married to a Maori (her first book, Come on Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You, tells the history of the Maori people of New Zealand, who are among the many groups of Polynesians). When she and her husband are in Hawaii about to rent a kayak, the Hawaiian managing the concession tells them it rents for “thirty dollars….but twenty for you, brother.” It’s a striking moment, giving Thompson the opportunity to explain the entire outline and genesis of the book. Polynesians all over the Pacific from New Zealand to Hawaii to the Easter Islands are related to one another. They all instantly recognize the cultural connection, and while many of the lifeways and life skills that existed hundreds or a thousand years ago have disappeared, and European and Asian influences have spread throughout the region, the ocean environment is what it always was. The mystery is, of course, how did the Polynesians navigate the open ocean for over 1000 years to populate the vast majority of the Pacific Ocean? Sea People tells that story brilliantly.

Through the course of this deftly written book, Thompson tells us how the earliest identifiable Polynesians settled this vast region. She explores what was once called the “Problem of Polynesian Origins” that fascinated the thinking of many European scientists during the late nineteenth century and into the modern era, where a variety of theories have competed to explain who the Polynesians are and how they got there (from the east or from the west, for example.)

This book is a comprehensive telling of history, geography, anthropology, and includes a great deal about the science of navigation. It’s a completely engrossing and riveting read, making it one of the more satisfying nonfiction books I have read in a long time.

Christina is a great person to talk to, so knowledgeable and comfortable with her material and never dry or pedantic in her approach to communicating so much of what she knows. It was a pleasure to speak with her for Writerscast.

My interview with Christina Thompson about her (wonderful) previous book, Come on Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You All can be found here on Writerscast, (originally posted in December, 2011.)

Christina’s author website is here.

The book is available for purchase from independent bookseller RJ Julia here.

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