“Here is a grand global seafaring epic, narrated by James Fairhead with vivid drama and literary flair.”—Marcus Rediker, author of The Amistad Rebellion: An Atlantic Odyssey of Slavery and Freedom
~Marcus Rediker
“An extraordinary work! Combining the analytical skills of a social anthropologist with the investigative techniques of a narrative historian, Fairhead reconstructs the travels of a young Pacific Islander and his American captor and benefactor across seven seas and six continents. Telling the story from the point of view of both the islander and the captain, Fairhead investigates the cultural fictions, economic interests, and global networks that animated the nineteenth-century world.”—Robert Harms, author of The Diligent: A Voyage through the Worlds of the Slave Trade
~Robert Harms
“By reconstructing the fascinating story of how Dako, a prince from the island of Uneapa, near New Guinea, came to appear on the New York stage in the early 1830s, James Fairhead brilliantly illuminates the cultural and often tragic encounters of profit-seeking Yankees with worlds other than the Atlantic and Native American. Deeply researched and elegantly written, this is historical anthropology and narrative history at their most enlightening and compelling.”—David Richardson, co-author of Atlas of the Transatlantic Slave Trade
~David Richardson
“James Fairhead has rendered an oceanic story driven by characters, dreams, self-deception, wide-flung locales, familiar places made strange, and motivations of wonder, cupidity, greed, arrogance, and overweening pride. This is a brave, remarkable work.”—Matt K. Matsuda, author of Pacific Worlds: A History of Seas, Peoples, and Cultures
~Matt K. Matsuda
“[A] superb new cultural history masquerading as an adventure tale . . . A fascinating glimpse into the sometimes ruthless Realeconomik of the early 19th century, which Fairhead delivers with great storytelling flair.”—Washington Post
~Washington Post
“Illuminates the social, racial, and cultural tensions of expanding global commerce. Readers of American history and social history will enjoy this work.”—Library Journal
~Library Journal
"Fairhead . . . has created what is both a gripping drama and a perceptive analysis of the experiences of both colonials and colonizers . . . This book, once opened, will keep you up late until the last page has been turned."—Natural History
~Natural History
‘The joy of Fairhead’s excellent book lies in its wonderful detail… Teasing truth out of fiction Fairhead provides us with a tale as remarkable for what it says about ‘’us’’ as it does about ‘’them’’.’—Philip Hoare, Literary Review.
~Philip Hoare, Literary Review
"The real adventurer of our time may be someone like Fairhead, a visionary detective who has dug into records that were crumbling, dusty, and lost from view, and used them to recreate a story that is as amazing now as it must have been to the people who lived it."—Santa Fe New Mexican
~Santa Fe New Mexican
