Historical Dictionary of Fiji

This book is the first concise account of the history of the Fiji islands from the beginning of human settlement to the early years of the 21st century. Its primary focus is on the period since the advent of colonial rule in the late 19th century to the present, benefiting from the author’s internationally acknowledged expertise as a scholar and writer on the Fijian past. Besides factual information, the book also offers a scholarly assessment of the people and events which have shaped Fiji’s history.The Historical Dictionary of Fiji contains a chronology, an introduction, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 300 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Fiji.

This edition follows the format of other titles in the series, opening with small, black-and-white maps and a lengthy, annotated chronology. The introduction serves as an excellent overview of this South Pacific archipelago. More than 300 alphabetically arranged entries cover significant persons, events, cultural and societal aspects, and political parties. Information is current through early 2015. Cross-references in bold and see also references in capital letters enhance use. An extensive, well-organized, and current bibliography (including websites), mainly in English, adds value. This work will provide large public and academic libraries with a one-stop resource on a lesser-known nation., This addition to Rowman and Littlefield’s series of Historical Dictionaries of Asia, Oceania, and the Middle East provides a comprehensive and readable overview of the history of the small island nation of Fiji. . . .Students of the Pacific area will find this book highly informative., [T]his book draws upon, and distils the essence of, his previous 46 books. The centrepiece of the book is the dictionary itself. Its 300 entries are like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, each with its own unique size and shape, each carefully painted in words of different hues and contrasts. It is Lal’s retirement present to us, one that will entertain those of us concerned to try to make sense of Fiji as we assemble the pieces this way and that. There are different ways to tell the story of Fiji and this book can be seen as Lal’s latest attempt to experiment with new creative ways of writing history by putting the onus on the reader to construct his or her own story…. So beware, dear reader, this dictionary contains many dangerous ideas of the kind that dictators and their apologists want to banish. But we can be sure that Brij Lal will not be silenced. This book is not the end of the road for Brij but the beginning of a new one.

Brij V Lal is Professor of Pacific and Asian History at The Australian National University. Fiji-born, he has also taught at the Universities of Hawaii, the South Pacific and Papua New Guinea.