"Multifaceted, thought-provoking ... Essential for all Pacific collections; highly recommended for upper-division anthropology, sociology, and political science collections" --Choice, October 2001

"Destined to be a classic of Pacific anthropology. It deserves a wide reading" --Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, December 2002

"A valuable and important contribution" --International History Review, March 2002

"The Typhoon of War is a major achievement and deserves a wide readership as perhaps the most ambitious and significant single-volume study of World War II in the Pacific." --History Now, Summer 2003

"The authors have thoroughly tapped the existing documentation ... and have integrated it well with the personal experiences of the local population obtained from their interviews. The book will appeal to the general reader with an interest in the Pacific War, as well as to historians of that conflict and to anthropologists." --Journal of Military History, July 2001

"This book succeeds both in depicting the life of the islanders during the war and in placing the period of war in their collective memory." --Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 30 (2002)

World War II was a watershed event for the people of the former Japanese colonies of Micronesia. The Japanese military build-up, the conflict itself, and the American occupation and control of the conquered islands brought rapid and dramatic changes to Micronesian life. Whether they spent the war in caves and bomb shelters, in sweet potato fields under armed Japanese guard, or in their own homes, Micronesians who survived those years recognize that their peoples underwent a major historical transformation. Like a typhoon, the war swept away a former life.

The Typhoon of War combines archival research and oral history culled from more than three hundred Micronesian survivors to offer a comparative history of the war in Micronesia. It is the first book to develop Islander perspectives on a topic still dominated by military histories that all but ignore the effects of wartime operations on indigenous populations. The authors explore the significant cultural meanings of the war for Island peoples, for the events of the war are the foundation on which Micronesians have constructed their modern view of themselves, their societies, and the wider world. Their recollections of those tumultuous years contain a wealth of detail about wartime activities, local conditions, and social change, making this an invaluable reference for anyone interested in twentieth-century Micronesia. Photographs, maps, and a detailed chronology will help readers situate Micronesian experiences within the broader context of the Pacific War.

Lin Poyer is associate professor of anthropology at the University of Wyoming. Suzanne Falgout is associate professor of anthropology at the University of Hawai`i--West O'ahu. Laurence Marshall Carucci is professor of anthropology at Montana State University.

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