Pursuing Respect in the Cannibal Isles
This book shows that the aspirations of individual Americans to be recognized as people worthy of others' respect was a driving force in the global extension of U.S. influence shortly after the nation's founding. The book contends that extraterritorial Americans constituted the vanguard of a vast, early U.S. global expansion. Using nineteenth-century Fiji, the “cannibal isles” of American popular culture, as a site of historical investigation, the book uncovers stories of Americans looking for opportunities to rise in social status and enhance their sense of self. Prior to British colonization in 1874, extraterritorial Americans had, the book argues, as much impact on Fiji as did the British. While the American economy invested in the extraction of sandalwood and sea slugs as resources to sell in China, individuals who went to Fiji had more complicated, personal objectives. The book considers these motivations through the lives of the three Americans who left the deepest imprint on Fiji: a runaway whaleman who settled in the islands, a sea captain's wife, and a merchant. It shows how ordinary Americans living or working overseas found unusual venues where they could show themselves worthy of others' respect—others' approval, admiration, or deference.