Fontenoy follows Across the Savage Sea (2005), the account of her solo row across the Atlantic with a new challenge: crossing the Pacific along the "Kon-Tiki" route from Peru to the...

Original publication and copyright date: 2010.

This diverse collection of essays examines important issues related to mental health among Pacific Islanders through the topics of identity, spirituality, the unconscious, mental trauma, and healing. Contributors: Emeline Afeaki-Mafile‘o, Margaret Nelson Agee, Siautu Alefaio, A. Aukahi Austin, Tina Berking, Philip Culbertson, Caroline Salumalo Fatialofa, Yvette Guttenbeil-Po‘uhila, Joseph Keawe‘aimoku Kaholokula, David Lui, Karen Lupe, Maika Lutui, Cabrini ‘Ofa Makasiale, Tavita T. Maliko, Peta Pila Palalagi, Suiamai Simi, Seilosa Skipps-Patterson, Karanina Siaosi Sumeo, To‘oa Jemaima Tiatia, Sione Tu‘itahi, Fia T. Turner-Tupou.

This edited book examines the contemporary regional security concerns in the Asia-Pacific recognizing the ‘Butterfly effect’, the concept that small causes can have large effects: ‘the flap of a butterfly’s wings can cause a typhoon halfway around the world’. For many Asia-Pacific states, domestic security challenges are at least as important as external security considerations. Recent events (both natural disasters and man-made disasters) have pointed to the inherent physical, economic, social and political vulnerabilities that exist in the region. Both black swan events and persistent threats to security characterize the challenges within the Asia-Pacific region. Transnational security challenges such as global climate change, environmental degradation, pandemics, energy security, supply chain security, resource scarcity, terrorism and organized crime are shaping the security landscape regionally and globally. The significance of emerging transnational security challenges in the Asia-Pacific Region impact globally and conversely, security developments in those other regions affect the Asia-Pacific region.

Pacific Island Countries have been shown to be especially vulnerable to such external influences as natural disasters, political unrest and downturns in the global economy and their tourism industries have been notably affected. In particular, they typically have a narrow resource base and a fragile and often vulnerable natural environment. While there is some research on islands and small states, there is a dearth of information on the South Pacific and very little research is being undertaken in the region compared to other geographical regions in the world. This volume brings together current work in Pacific Island tourism. In this collection, three main themes arise: Images of the South Pacific; Socio-economic Impacts of Tourism; and Pacific Island Countries and the Outside World. The first focus is on the question of image, namely, stereotypes of a destination held by tourists and potential tourists, the extent to which residents, for their part, really welcome visitors, and the role tourism might play in changing pre-established images. The second theme is tourism's impacts, notably the economic and socio-cultural effects of international tourism's intrusion in the region which, though often hotly debated, have attracted relatively little empirical research. The third focus is on the challenges of how PICs articulate with their external geo-political and physical environment. These involve existing relations with formal colonial centres, geographical isolation, the need for greater air access to the outside world and for more tourists, and the continuing threat to several PICs of global warming, which increased air travel will inevitably exacerbate. This text will be of interest to tourism students, researchers and academics in the fields of tourism, development studies and cultural studies.

"Transboundary Policy Challenges" responds to a growing interest in borderlands environmental policy by highlighting significant transboundary research and practices being undertaken within and across the Pacific border regions of North America. Growing concern about the seriousness of environmental problems, particularly in high-growth border areas, coupled with the rising awareness of the complexities entailed in wise development decisions, has spurred recognition that new realities require new responses. Critical for effective environmental protection, restoration, and education is a sharing of understanding and effort across borders. "Transboundary Policy Challenges" advances transborder environmental research and discusses sensible policy directions with particular focus on critical areas of international concern and engagement: land and water use planning; regional growth management; trade and transportation corridors; environmental education; and travel and tourism. Contributors to the volume represent a range of disciplines, as well as institutions in Canada, the United States, and Mexico.

From Robert Leckie, the World War II veteran and New York Times bestselling author of Helmet for My Pillow, whose experiences were featured in the HBO miniseries The Pacific, comes this vivid narrative of the astonishing six-month campaign for Guadalcanal. From the Japanese soldiers’ carefully calculated—and ultimately foiled—attempt to build a series of impregnable island forts on the ground to the tireless efforts of the Americans who struggled against a tenacious adversary and the temperature and terrain of the island itself, Robert Leckie captures the loneliness, the agony, and the heat of twenty-four-hour-a-day fighting on Guadalcanal. Combatants from both sides are brought to life: General Archer Vandegrift, who first assembled an amphibious strike force; Isoroku Yamamoto, the naval general whose innovative strategy was tested; the island-born Allied scout Jacob Vouza, who survived hideous torture to uncover the enemy’s plans; and Saburo Sakai, the ace flier who shot down American planes with astonishing ease. Propelling the Allies to eventual victory, Guadalcanal was truly the turning point of the war. Challenge for the Pacific is an unparalleled, authoritative account of this great fight that forever changed our world.