The Marshall Islands, named after a British sea captain who explored the group in 1788, are scattered like flung necklaces over about 750,000 square miles of Pacific Ocean. Positioned 2,200 miles southwest of Hawaii, they occupy an area between four and 20 degrees north of the equator. The islands are aligned in two groups. Those to the west are the Ralik Chain; to the east they're in the Ratak Chain. Altogether they total 34 islands and 850 sea-washed reefs. All the islands are coral, but...

Papua New Guinea, the eastern half of the second-largest island in the world, includes a cluster of islands off its northeast coast New Britain, New Ireland, Bougainville, Manus, the Trobriands, and scores of smaller islands. The other half of the island, the western part Indonesian Irian Jaya is another story and, other than brief remarks about it, this chapter is confined to Papua New Guinea. However, when you put both halves of the island together, notice how in profile it resembles a h...

Thomas Mallon and Library of America invite readers to rediscover the Pulitzer Prize-winning novels of a classic American writer on the 150th anniversary of his birthMuch in need of rediscovery today, Booth Tarkington was among the most beloved and widely read writers of his era. In such classic novels as The Magnificent Ambersons and Alice Adams, both winners of the Pulitzer Prize, Tarkington displayed a mastery of realism and an astute, striking...

In "Holland," Thomas Colley Grattan presents a vivid exploration of Dutch society and culture through the eyes of an astute observer. The narrative weaves a rich tapestry of everyday life, historical context, and the intricate landscapes of the Netherlands, employing a descriptive and engaging literary style that immerses the reader in the picturesque vistas and bustling town life. Grattan's keen observations are set against the backdrop of a rapidly changing 19th-century Europe, providing...

Each time I see a new place I privately play the game of, "Would I be happy living here permanently?" My reactions for Fiji, mostly happy ones, aren't based entirely on Fiji's miles of white beaches, her rattling palms, the variety of her villages, or the dramatic hill country. I can find these things in dozens of Pacific destinations and, as much as I love most of them, none are choices for my declining years. Fiji has the required qualities among them, space and lots of it. Viti Levu, the ...

Better half a century late than never. The children's book my Grandpa wrote in the early 1970s and firmly intended to publish, but for various reasons never did. Having brought out my own first book this year (which is of course far simpler and easier than it would have been back then), it seemed fitting to bring his work to completion. With the help of a hand-typed anotated final draft, and two specially comissioned illustrations, the story needed very little extra work. It's all about a ...

First published in 1471, the year of the author’s death, The Imitation of Christ is a highly influential Christian text. A celebration of God’s mercy, holiness and love, The Imitation is a devotional guide in which Christians are urged to trust fully in God and submit to the circumstances of the life which we are given by God. Although Thomas à Kempis spent 70 years of his life in the confines of a monastery, this work shows a complete comprehension of human nature. St Thomas More commende...

The language of Poetry is an art that most of us attempt at some point in our lives. Although its commonplace exposure has been somewhat marginalised in today’s often fast-paced lives we all recognise good verse that can empathise with our thoughts or open us up to experience new things in new ways, to better understand and to enjoy the many strands of our lives.But finding a starting point can be overwhelming, even off-putting, so in this series we offer up our Top 10 classic poet...

Tourism, while still small, will surely be a big thing in this kingdom by the sea. It has many attractions the king himself, his palace, the beaches, lagoons, flying foxes, blowholes, ruins, exquisite outer islands, and convenient transport. There's good food, perhaps the best in the Pacific, and the weather is cooler than many other Pacific islands. Tonga has good things to bring home: tapa cloth, wood carvings, beautiful baskets, mats and, best of all, prices for everything are low. Tong...

These fascinating and stunningly beautiful Pacific islands lie midway between Hawaii and the Philippines. Seen from the air, Kosrae is a mountainous green craggy island with curious pointed peaks thick with jungle, fringed with white sandy beaches and a system of close-in mangrove-covered reef islands. The beauty of this high island can only be described as magnificent. Coming from the low atoll islands of the Marshalls I got the feeling that here was a mini-continent, a fragment of land, ...

Guam is a special place for a number of reasons. At 212 square miles, it's the largest island in Micronesia, and its status as a territory of the U.S. makes it our most westerly possession. It is 6,000 miles west of San Francisco, and is truly where America's day begins. The geology of this apostrophe-shaped island, which is 30 miles long and four to twelve miles wide, is volcanic. Much of the north ern part has cliffs along the coast that drop sharply to the sea, as well as a few mountain...

Vanuatu, a cluster of 13 large islands and 80 small ones in the southwest Pacific, 1,300 miles east of Australia, has had a kaleidoscopic past. Formerly known as the New Hebrides, it was administered as a British-French Condominium, referred to as "pandemonium" and the events surrounding independence in 1980 had Gilbert and Sullivan qualities. Then there are the languages they speak: French, English, 105 indigenous tongues, and the wonderful common language, Bislama. The islands of Vanuatu, f...