Strangers in Their Own Land: A Century of Colonial Rule in the Caroline and Marshall Islands

Pacific Islands Monograph Series

by Francis X. Hezel

"Hezel has written an authoritative and engaging narrative of [a] succession of colonial regimes, drawing upon a broad range of published and archival sources as well as his own considerable knowledge of the region. This is a 'conventional' history, and a very good one, focused mostly on political and economic developments. Hezel demonstrates a fine understanding of the complicated relations between administrators, missionaries, traders, chiefs and commoners, in a wide range of social and historical settings." --Pacific Affairs



"The tale [of Strangers in Their Own Land] is one of interplay between four sequential colonial regimes (Spain Germany, Japan, and the United States) and the diverse island cultures they governed. It is also a tale of relationships among islands whose inhabitants did not always see eye-to-eye and among individuals who fought private and public battles in those islands. Hezel conveys both the unity of purpose exerted by a colonial government and the subversion of that purpose by administrators, teachers, islands, and visitors.... [The] history is thoroughly supported by archival materials, first-person testimonies, and secondary sources. Hezel acknowledges the power of the visual when he ends his book by describing the distinctive flags that now replace Spanish, German, Japanese, and American symbols of rule. the scene epitomizes a theme of the book: global political and economic forces, whether colonial or post-colonial, cannot erode the distinctiveness each island claims."--American Historical Review

Genres: History, Nonfiction

473 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1995

Reviews

[AskHistorians]

Together with The First Taint of Civilization: A History of the Caroline and Marshall Islands in Pre-Colonial Days, 1521-1885, these texts represent the only major survey history of the former Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands: the present-day Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Republic of Palau, Federated States of Micronesia, and Republic of the Marshall Islands. The first volume covers the pre-colonial era, and the second volume covers the region's colonization by Spain, Germany, Japan, and the United States.

[Devan Jensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ambitious and sweeping history of a complicated story of many nations! Father Hezel presents this history well in an articulate manner, noting that the islanders have interacted with colonial powers in a savvy, sophisticated way. If I were to quibble, his chararacterization of the US as causing a "forced march toward democracy" (pp. 276-282) seems overly harsh. Slowly educating the people to make choices using American-style democracy seem relatively benevolent when compared to the way the Spanish, German, and Japanese colonists disarmed, executed, and conscripted islanders. Still, overall, this is a well-written history of an important topic.