Come on Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You All
Subtitle: A New Zealand Story
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Published: 2009
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 271
ISBN-13: 9781596911277
Subjects: History; History - General History; History: World; Australia & New Zealand - New Zealand; General; History / Australia & Oceania; Australia & New Zealand - General; Culture conflict; Europeans; First contact with Europeans; Maori (New Zealand people); New Zealand
First sentence: It is the evening of December 18, 1642, about an hour after sunset, ten, perhaps ten thirty at night, with the sky still holding the last vestige of light on the western horizon.
Description: In this extraordinary book, which grows out of decades of research, Thompson explores the meaning of cross-cultural contact and the fascinating history of Europeans in the South Pacific, beginning with Abel Tasman's discovery of New Zealand in 1642 and James Cook's famous circumnavigations of 1769-79. Transporting us back and forth in time and around the world, from Australia to Hawaii to tribal New Zealand and finally to a house in New England that has ghosts of its own, Come on Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You All brings to life a lush variety of characters and settings. Yet at its core, it is the story of two people who, in making a life and a family together, bridge the gap between two worlds.