A Footnote to History: Eight years of Trouble in Samoa (The Pasifika Library)

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Robert Louis Stevenson was known in Samoa as Tusitala, the teller of tales. In A Footnote to History, however he comes very close to the truth. This is an eyewitness account of the battle of the three great Western nations of the time (Germany, Britain and the United States of America) for control of Samoa. It is also the story of Samoa's resistance, the stuggles of various Samoan factions and the preservation of an ancient political system. Not only is this a canny analysis of late nineteenth century colonialism, it is also a rollicking good yarn in the best Stevenson tradition.