Popular Oceanian Historical Books
Find historical books written by authors from Oceania for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge. (24)
1.
Atoll Politics : The Republic of Kiribati by Howard Van Trease EN
KiribatiDescription:
Edited by Howard Van Trease, but including Kiribati authors.
2.
August in Kabul : America's Last Days in Afghanistan by Andrew Quilty EN
AustraliaDescription:
Told through the eyes of witnesses to the fall of Kabul, Walkley award-winning journalist Andrew Quilty's debut book offers a remarkable record of this historic moment. As night fell on 15 August 2021, the Taliban entered Kabul, capital of Afghanistan. After a 20-year conflict with the United States, its Western allies and a proxy Afghan government, the Islamic militant group once aligned with al Qaeda was about to bury yet another foreign foe in the graveyard of empires. And for the US, world superpower, this was yet another foreign disaster. As cities and towns fell to the Taliban in rapid s... continue
3.
Australia Day by Stan Grant EN
Description:
As uncomfortable as it is, we need to reckon with our history. On January 26, no Australian can really look away. There are the hard questions we ask of ourselves on Australia Day. Since publishing his critically acclaimed, Walkley Award-winning, bestselling memoir Talking to My Country in early 2016, Stan Grant has been crossing the country, talking to huge crowds everywhere about how racism is at the heart of our history and the Australian dream. But Stan knows this is not where the story ends. In this book, Australia Day, his long-awaited follow up to Talking to My Country, Stan talks about... continue
4.
Description:
From award-winning author Tim Winton comes an epic novel that regularly tops the list of best-loved novels in Australia. After two separate catastrophes, two very different families leave the country for the bright lights of Perth. The Lambs are industrious, united, and--until God seems to turn His back on their boy Fish--religious. The Pickleses are gamblers, boozers, fractious, and unlikely landlords. Change, hardship, and the war force them to swallow their dignity and share a great, breathing, shuddering house called Cloudstreet. Over the next twenty years, they struggle and strive, laugh ... continue
5.
Indigenous Literatures from Micronesia by Evelyn Flores, Emelihter Kihleng EN
Country: Oceania / 
Micronesia
Micronesia
Description:
For the first time, poetry, short stories, critical and creative essays, chants, and excerpts of plays by Indigenous Micronesian authors have been brought together to form a resounding—and distinctly Micronesian—voice. With over two thousand islands spread across almost three million square miles of the Pacific Ocean, Micronesia and its peoples have too often been rendered invisible and insignificant both in and out of academia. This long-awaited anthology of contemporary indigenous literature will reshape Micronesia’s historical and literary landscape. Presenting over seventy authors and one ... continue
6.
Island of the Lost : An Extraordinary Story of Survival at the Edge of the World by Joan Druett EN
Country: Oceania / 
New Zealand
New Zealand
Description:
“Riveting.” —The New York Times Book Review Hundreds of miles from civilization, two ships wreck on opposite ends of the same deserted island in this true story of human nature at its best—and at its worst. It is 1864, and Captain Thomas Musgrave’s schooner, the Grafton, has just wrecked on Auckland Island, a forbidding piece of land 285 miles south of New Zealand. Battered by year-round freezing rain and constant winds, it is one of the most inhospitable places on earth. To be shipwrecked there means almost certain death. Incredibly, at the same time on the opposite end of the island, another... continue
7.
Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey EN
Description:
Charlie Bucktin is startled by an urgent knock on the window of his sleep-out. His visitor is Jasper Jones, an outcast in the mining town of Corrigan. Jasper takes Charlie to his secret glade in the bush, and it's here that Charlie bears witness to Jasper's horrible discovery.
8.
Kalyana by Rajni Mala Khelawan EN
FijiDescription:
A moving story about what it means to be a woman in a society where choices are limited and decisions are difficult. A must read for mothers, and their adult daughters.
9.
Maiba : A Papuan Novel by Russell Soaba EN
Country: Oceania / 
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea
Description:
The only child of the last chief of Makawana village, Maiba struggles to hold her people together in face of the polarizing forces of convention and modernization. Both protective and painfully aware of the weaknesses of her own community, Maiba acquires the wisdom she needs to face the future.
10.
March : A Novel by Geraldine Brooks EN
Description:
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize--a powerful love story set against the backdrop of the Civil War, from the author of The Secret Chord. From Louisa May Alcott's beloved classic Little Women, Geraldine Brooks has animated the character of the absent father, March, and crafted a story "filled with the ache of love and marriage and with the power of war upon the mind and heart of one unforgettable man" (Sue Monk Kidd). With "pitch-perfect writing" (USA Today), Brooks follows March as he leaves behind his family to aid the Union cause in the Civil War. His experiences will utterly change his marriage ... continue