Sea People by Christina Thompson, Paperback, 9780008339050 | Buy online at The Nile
Departments
 Free Returns*

Sea People

In Search of the Ancient Navigators of the Pacific

Author: Christina Thompson  

(1 review)
Sea People
Paperback
(1 review)
New
$39.02
Or pay later with
Free 30 day returns       Secure transaction
Check delivery options
Paperback

PRODUCT INFORMATION

Description

Winner of the 2020 Australian Prime Minister's Literary Award for nonfiction and the 2019 NSW Premier's History Awards for general history

‘Wonderfully researched and beautifully written' Philip Hoare, author of Leviathan

‘Succeeds in conjuring a lost world' Dava Sobel, author of Longitude



For more than a millennium, Polynesians have occupied the remotest islands in the Pacific Ocean, a vast triangle stretching from Hawaii to New Zealand to Easter Island. Until the arrival of European explorers they were the only people to have ever lived there. Both the most closely related and the most widely dispersed people in the world before the era of mass migration, Polynesians can trace their roots to a group of epic voyagers who ventured out into the unknown in one of the greatest adventures in human history.

How did the earliest Polynesians find and colonise these far-flung islands? How did a people without writing or metal tools conquer the largest ocean in the world? This conundrum, which came to be known as the Problem of Polynesian Origins, emerged in the eighteenth century as one of the great geographical mysteries of mankind.

For Christina Thompson, this mystery is personal: her Maori husband and their sons descend directly from these ancient navigators. In Sea People, Thompson explores the fascinating story of these ancestors, as well as those of the many sailors, linguists, archaeologists, folklorists, biologists and geographers who have puzzled over this history for three hundred years. A masterful mix of history, geography, anthropology, and the science of navigation, Sea People is a vivid tour of one of the most captivating regions in the world.

Read more

Critic Reviews

“'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, author of Longitude and The Glass Universe 'To those of the western hemisphere, the Pacific represents a vast unknown, almost beyond our imagining; for its Polynesian island peoples, this fluid, shifting place is home. Christina Thompson's wonderfully researched and beautifully written narrative brings these two stories together, gloriously and excitingly. Filled with teeming grace and terrible power, her book is a vibrant and revealing new account of the watery part of our world' Philip Hoare, author of Leviathan 'A compelling story, beautifully told, the best exploration narrative I've read in years' Richard Rhodes, author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb 'Essential reading for anyone seeking to understand Polynesia, the Pacific, or the spread of humanity around the globe' Jack Weatherford, author of Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World 'Christina Thompson...is perhaps ideally placed to try to answer the question [of Polynesian originstion narrative I've read in years' Richard Rhodes, author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb 'Essential reading for anyone seeking to understand Polynesia, the Pacific, or the spread of humanity around the globe' Jack Weatherford, author of Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World 'Christina Thompson...is perhaps ideally placed to try to answer the question [of Polynesian origins] - and in Sea People, her fascinating and satisfying addition to an already considerable body of Polynesian literature, she succeeds admirably' New York Times Book Review 'Compelling... These pages will unleash the imagination [and] spark insight' National Geographic 'Superb. . . . An illuminating read for amateur sleuths and professional scholars alike' Spectator 'Magnificent... A grand, symphonic, beautifully written book... Sea People is an archive-researched historical account that has the page-turning qualities of an all-absorbing mystery' Boston Globe”

‘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, author of Longitude and The Glass Universe

‘To those of the western hemisphere, the Pacific represents a vast unknown, almost beyond our imagining; for its Polynesian island peoples, this fluid, shifting place is home. Christina Thompson’s wonderfully researched and beautifully written narrative brings these two stories together, gloriously and excitingly. Filled with teeming grace and terrible power, her book is a vibrant and revealing new account of the watery part of our world’ Philip Hoare, author of Leviathan

‘A compelling story, beautifully told, the best exploration narrative I’ve read in years’ Richard Rhodes, author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb

‘Fascinating and satisfying’ Simon Winchester, author of The Map that Changed the World

‘Essential reading for anyone seeking to understand Polynesia, the Pacific, or the spread of humanity around the globe’ Jack Weatherford, author of Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World

‘Christina Thompson…is perhaps ideally placed to try to answer the question [of Polynesian origins] – and in Sea People, her fascinating and satisfying addition to an already considerable body of Polynesian literature, she succeeds admirably’ New York Times Book Review

‘Compelling… These pages will unleash the imagination [and] spark insight’ National Geographic

‘Superb. . . . An illuminating read for amateur sleuths and professional scholars alike’ Spectator

Read more

About the Author

Christina Thompson is the editor of Harvard Review and the author of Come On Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You All: A New Zealand Story, which was shortlisted for the Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-fiction and the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing. A dual citizen of the US and Australia, she lives outside of Boston with her family.

Read more

Product Details

Publisher
HarperCollins Publishers | William Collins
Published
5th March 2020
Pages
384
ISBN
9780008339050

Returns

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS

11 Jun, 2021
By Joshua
See more
New
$39.02
Or pay later with
Free 30 day returns       Secure transaction
Check delivery options
Browse by category
YOUR PAYMENT IS SECURE

We use 100% PCI DSS compliant payment services. That means your payment information is always protected, and never gets seen by anyone.
30-DAY FREE RETURN POLICY

Return nearly all items within 30 days of delivery. Unused or faulty items are acceptable as free returns. *Exceptions apply, see our returns policy.

The Nile
Follow Us
Help & Support
Contact Us

Copyright © 2025 The Nile Group.

Zip

 AfterPay

PayPal

Credit Card
Buy Baby at The Nile
 
 
 
Buy Toys at The Nile
Buy Books at The Nile
Buy Movies & TV at The Nile
Our Top Brands