Tautai : Sāmoa, World History, and the Life of Ta'isi O. F. Nelson / Patricia O'Brien.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

O'Brien, Patricia, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Nelson, O. F., 1883-1944.

Nelson, O. F.

Nationalists--Samoa--Biography.

Nationalists.

Samoa--Politics and government.

Samoa.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (433 pages) : illustrations, maps

Place of Publication:

Honolulu : University of Hawaii Press, [2017]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

Tautai is the story of a man who came from the edge of a mighty empire and then challenged it at its very heart. This biography of Ta'isi O. F. Nelson chronicles the life of a man described as the "archenemy" of New Zealand and its greater whole, the British Empire. He was Sāmoa's richest man who used his wealth and unique international access to further the Sāmoan cause and was financially ruined in the process. In the aftermath of the hyper-violence of the First World War, Ta'isi embraced nonviolent resistance as a means to combat a colonial surge in the Pacific that gripped his country for nearly two decades. This surge was manned by heroes of New Zealand's war campaign, who attempted to hold the line against the groundswell of challenges to the imperial order in the former German colony of Sāmoa that became a League of Nations mandate in 1921. Stillborn Sāmoan hopes for greater freedoms under this system precipitated a crisis of empire. It led Ta'isi on global journeys in search of justice taking him to Geneva, the League of Nations headquarters, and into courtrooms in Sāmoa, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. Ta'isi ran a global campaign of letter writing, petitions, and a newspaper to get his people's plight heard. For his efforts he was imprisoned and exiled not once but twice from his homeland of Sāmoa. Using private papers and interviews, O'Brien tells a deeply compelling account of Ta'isi's life lived through turbulent decades. By following Ta'isi's story readers also learn a history of Sāmoa's Mau movement that attracted international attention. The author's care for detail provides a nuanced interpretation of its history and Ta'isi's role in the broader context of world history. The first biography of Ta'isi O. F. Nelson, Tautai is a powerful and passionate story that is both personal and one that encircles the globe. It touches on shared histories and causes that have animated and enraged populations across the world throughout the twentieth century to the present day.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Key Historical Figures

Glossary of Sāmoan Terms

Maps

Prologue

1. Converging Worlds Sāmoa and Europe Clash (1883-1909)

2. Kaiser or King? German Empire, War, and its Brutal Aftermath (1910-1920)

3. The "Troublesome Garden of Eden" (1920-1923)

4. A New Era? (1923-1925)

5. Before the Storm (1926)

6. The Storm (1926-1927)

7. "He is Not a Samoan" (1927)

8. Exile and the Road to Geneva (1928)

9. "If There is Any Justice at All" (1928)

10. Slander, Abuse, and Calumny (1929)

11. Sāmoa's Gethsemane (1930)

12. Breaking Mr. Nelson in the Great Depression (1931-1932)

13. Return to Sāmoa, Trial, and Exile (1933-1934)

14. Sāmoa Evermore (1935-1944)

Epilogue "Samoans Will Forgive, but Never Forget"

Notes

Bibliography

Index

About the Author

Notes:

Previously issued in print: 2017.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 28. Aug 2019)

ISBN:

9780824875664

0824875664

9780824872397

0824872398

OCLC:

990267665