"The true and fascinating story of Easter Island and its amazing statues" - Ken Follett "A crisp, confident, and convincing new account of the place and its chroniclers.Pitts's account reflects a broader shift in the consensus, one that many readers will find persuasive, as this one did." - The New Yorker "Compelling . Pitts has gone deeper than any other writer in cutting through the miasma of misperceptions that shrouds the island . [a] magisterial history." - New York TImes "Revelatory.fascinating. wholly convincing" - Daily Mail (UK) "Striking .
a stunning unraveling of many layers of hidden history." - Publishers Weekly (starred review) "An ambitious new account of Rapa Nui . stirring." - Slate "[Pitts] is good at bringing alive human stories - particularly about the indigenous islanders and how, after 20 generations of keeping their own company, they were shockingly assaulted by the outside world. a gripping story." - Spectator (UK) "Rapa Nui has a double history of early Polynesian life and later colonial devastation, both mythologized. Mike Pitts draws on deep research to provide a powerful corrective to such myths. Anyone looking for an intelligent, balanced and accessible account of Rapa Nui should read his book" - Chris Gosden, Professor of Archaeology, Oxford University "An archeologist reexamines the mystery of Rapa Nui--and offers answers.
The result is a welcome contribution to Pacific Island history that holds relevance not just for Rapa Nui, but for other islands across this vast ocean. A bold and convincing revision of Rapa Nui's history." - Kirkus Reviews "In this detailed, intelligent, humane work, Pitts has given us a salutary corrective to centuries of Western prejudice and fantasy." - Literary Review (UK) "A thought-provoking mix of published past and current work, and rediscovered documents that together provides a usefully different perspective on Rapa Nui's iconic world heritage archaeology" - Sue Hamilton, Professor of Prehistory, University College London Institute for Archaeology "There is much in 'Island at the Edge of the World' to inspire, ponder, and sadden.it's a big story that says much about all of us -- about art and humanity and our hunger to make meaning and to speak it across the centuries." - Washington Post "Mike Pitts, an archaeologist and freelance journalist, reconstructs the early history of this remote Polynesian people, reviews the findings of scientists who studied the island and portrays the foreign agents who shattered the old order. [Pitts] dismisses [the] ecocide narrative and places the blame for environmental degradation where it belongs: with colonial intruders." - Wall Street Journal "Island at the Edge of the World is a groundbreaking, eye-opening work of history and adventure that challenges the prevailing story of Easter Island among tourists and scholars.
" - Esquire "In Island at the Edge of the World , archaeologist Mike Pitts untangles the histories of Rapa Nui (Easter Island), upending Western views of the island's settlement and downfall." - Seattle Times.