Review:
Dr O'Brien has meticulously researched the life of Ta'isi; a life that was both tragic and inspiring. . . . Until now his story has been barely told and now, in telling it, Dr O'Brien has provided the deepest historical account ever written of Colonial Samoa between the two World Wars.--Meleisea Leasiolagi Malama Meleisea "Samoa Planet"
This book is so full and rich with detail that I advise you all, read it two pages at a time, read the two pages and put it down until the next day. It is a remarkable book that every Samoan should read.--Samoa Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi "Samoa Planet"
In this complex, multisided history of Germany's and then New Zealand's colonial administration of Sāmoa, Ta'isi O. F. Nelson emerges as a fascinating, profoundly intelligent, courageous, and indefatigable leader of Sāmoa's drive for independence.--Albert Wendt, award-winning novelist and poet
Through one extraordinary life, Patricia O'Brien has written a major account of converging modern worlds. Her study of Ta'isi O. F. Nelson links empire, war, capitalism, anti-colonialism, and internationalism over six tumultuous decades. Deeply researched, this book is both a world history of Sāmoa, and a Pacific history of the early twentieth-century world.--Alison Bashford, University of Cambridge
O'Brien brilliantly divulges how Ta'isi used Western ideologies to deal with a Western institution. . . . Tautai is a wonderful contribution to Pacific Islands resistance and decolonization studies, and more generally to world, Pacific, and Samoan political history. . . . [T]his book captures the essence of Sāmoa's struggle in the context of a tectonic movement in world history in which passionate local agents and activists promoting change emerged to contest the injustice, instability, and odiousness of colonial forms of government across the globe.--Brian Alofaituli "The Contemporary Pacific, 30:2 (Fall 2018)"
Tautai provides a fascinating view of Sāmoa's global history, and key historical figures during a tumultuous time. Throughout the book, the author has articulated a complex and nuanced narrative which brings to life Ta'isi, his family, Sāmoa and its multiple relationships abroad. . . . O'Brien's coverage is vast and this source provides a key reference point for interested scholars, academics, students and family members.--Safua Akeli Amaama, Centre for Sāmoan Studies, National University of Sāmoa "The Journal of Sāmoan Studies, 7:3 (2017)"
Patricia O'Brien's biography offer[s] a fascinating, detailed and deeply researched portrait of one of Sāmoa's national heroes. It is sure to become the standard work on this remarkable man.--Matthew P. Fitzpatrick "Australian Historical Studies, 49:2 (2018)"
About the Author:
Patricia O'Brien is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow in the School of History at The Australian National University.
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