A graduate of the University of Auckland and Oxford University, he is an historian of the British and American empires, and of the Pacific Islands. He is the author of a number of articles on these topics, is one of the contributors to The New Oxford History of New Zealand, has authored a short textbook series on the history of Polynesia, and is one of the editors of the forthcoming Tangata o Moana Nui (Te Papa Tongarewa/Museum of New Zealand Press). Educated in New Zealand, he was the first Samoan Rhodes Scholar. He is also a holder of the title Toeolesulusulu from the village of Satapuala, Samoa.