The infamous Bounty mutiny of 1790 culminated in nine mutineers taking up residence on the small Pitcairn Island in the South Pacific. Rivalry over Polynesian women soon led to homicidal strife and, by 1808, when American sealing vessel Topaz stopped at the island, John Adams was the only mutineer alive. He, however, headed what was soon discovered to be a utopianlike Christian society.Beginning with a background look at the circumstances surrounding the mutiny, this volume contains a detailed history of the Pitcairn islanders from the original settlement through the opening years of the 21st century. The island's isolation is contrasted with the international attention garnered from its captivating history, making the society a one-of-a-kind historical conundrum. Unlike previous volumes, this history takes a look at the Pitcairn Island of the 20th and 21st centuries, examining such subjects as the effect of the World War II and the 2004 sexual abuse trial and conviction of six Pitcairners. Helpful maps and photographs enhance the reader's experience.

Excerpt from Mutiny of the Bounty and Story of Pitcairn Island, 1790-1894Many books have been written on the history of Pitcairn Island, while magazine articles and newspaper sketches almost without number have appeared from time to time, treating on some feature of the island or its history. While there are some points of disagreement between the different writers, they have in the main given a fairly good history of the island, and of its condition many years ago, though some of their statements have been sorriewhat exaggerated. That it is inevitable that some errors should creep into such histories may be clearly seen from the fact that very few of the writers have ever visited the island, while those who have done so, remained but a short time, and so could see but one side oflife on that isolated spot.The present work is written by a native of the island, and one who has practically spent her whole life on the island, a few years of her childhood only having been spent on Norfolk Island. While her lifetime does not cover quite one-halfof the time covered by the history of the island, she had access for many years to one at least who remembered events that oc curred before the beginning of the present century. The author's father was the second oldest man of the community at the time of his death, in September, 1893, and was a grandson of John Adams, one of the mutineers of the Bounty, whose death took place in 1829. She has thus had the best of advan tages for obtaining a correct knowledge of the island history.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.