Christina Thompson (Come on Shore and We Will Kill You and Eat You All) is married to a New Zealander of Maori descent, which inspired her interest in the Polynesian genome that her sons share. In Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia, Thompson explores their history. Where did Polynesians come from? How can a people group so geographically distant--stretching in a loose triangle that covers thousands of miles from New Zealand in the south, to Easter Island in the east, to Hawaii in the north, be so culturally similar? How did people with no modern technology even find all these tiny islands in the vastness of the Pacific Ocean?
Ever since Captain James Cook first noticed the similarities between the people of these many different islands, people have been mystified by the Polynesians. Over the centuries there have been many different theories about their origins. Some assume they are related to the Melanesians of western Oceania. Abraham Fornander, a Swedish historian, was among many who insisted that Polynesians were "Aryan." Still others fell into Thor Heyerdahl's camp, believing they'd descended from South America royalty.
Cleverly combining Polynesian mythology, the fieldwork of Victorian anthropologists and modern DNA technology, Sea People is a fascinating look at the mystery. As Thompson says, "Virtually everyone who has ever thought about the problem of Polynesian origins has been attracted to the subject by two different things: first by the sheer wondrousness, the impossibility of all these migrations... and second, by the intellectual puzzle." --Jessica Howard, bookseller at Bookmans, Tucson, Ariz.