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Book Review
| Pathways to the Present: U.S. Development and Its Consequences in the Pacific. By MANSEL G. BLACKFORD. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2007. 288 pp. $48.00 (cloth).
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In this well-researched and tightly organized study, Mansel G. Blackford considers the importance of economic developments and environmental issues in areas of the Pacific owned or controlled by the United States after World War II. The Hawaiian Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Philippines, and parts of Japan fall within its purview. So, too, do the coastlines of Alaska, California, and Washington. In all of these areas, the presence of the American military loomed large. Military spending created jobs and higher standards of living, but also threatened traditional lifestyles and natural resources. Individuals and groups opposed military and business initiatives on environmental grounds, and in doing so blazed new "pathways to the present." |
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The book's opening chapter explains that World War II was a major turning point in the Pacific world. The war not only broke up colonial forms of government but also affected the way people understood and dealt with environmental issues. Environmental concerns accompanied many postwar developments in the Pacific, and prompted many local residents to interact with civic leaders and government agencies in ways that affected the environment. In places like Hawai'i and Guam, the rise of postwar environmental movements merged with sovereignty issues. Indigenous groups who had long opposed American military and economic policies in their communities played a major role in creating new environmental protection measures. |
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