Overview

This text provides a window into the fantasies and realities of colonial life by presenting separate sets of letters by two late 19th-century British colonists of the South Pacific: Vernon Lee Walker and Louis Becke. The commentary explores colonial degeneration in the South Pacific, examining the procress whereby men and women eroded in the midst of the hot, violent and uncivil colonial milieu.

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9780822322573

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This important, well-researched, and elegantly conceived book makes a significant contribution to colonial history and to Pacific culture and anthropology Don Brenneis, University of California at Santa Cruz The presentation of these two sets of letters is first-rate George E. Marcus, Rice University

The presentation of these two sets of letters is first-rate. Nothing less would be expected of a project in which Nicholas Thomas-a leading figure in the fields of anthropology and history-is involved. -George E. Marcus, Rice University Thomas and Eves have addressed a topic of significant concern-the complex particularities of colonial culture and practice. Bad Colonists is more than a collection of annotated letters. It is a well-researched and elegantly conceived book that makes an important contribution to colonial history, Pacific culture, and anthropology. -Don Brenneis, University of California at Santa Cruz

Author Information

Nicholas Thomas is Professor of Anthropology, Goldsmiths College, University of London. His books include In Oceania: Visions, Artifacts, Histories, also published by Duke University Press. Richard Eves is an Australian Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow, also at the Centre for Cross-Cultural Research at the Australian National University. He is the author of The Magical Body: Power, Fame, and Meaning in a Melanesian Society.

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