A vivid account of the tragedy of England's first black celebrity, the story of the Tahitian prince brought to England by Captain Cook's companion.

Cook & Omai: The Cult of the South Seas draws on the Library's collections and the documentary record to explore a fascinating chapter in the history of the Pacific, and European concerns about the nature of humankind and the world as they saw it. The catalogue and exhibition provide insight into the legacy of Omai, caught, as he was, between two worlds.

Under the 1737 Licensing Act, Covent Garden, Dury Lane and regional Theatres Royal held a monopoly on the dramatic canon. This work explores the presentation of foreign cultures and ethnicities on the popular British stage from 1750 to 1840. It argues that this illegitimate stage was the site for a plebeian Enlightenment.

Laura J. Rosenthal uses literary and historical sources to explore the meaning of prostitution from the Restoration through the eighteenth century.

This narrative recounts the 18th and 19th century shipping out of Pacific islanders aboard European and American vessels, a kind of counter-exploring, that echoed the ancient voyages of settlement of their island ancestors.

Omai was the first Polynesian to visit Britain. Picked up by one of Cook's captains, he was carried to England where he became a human curiosity and the lion of fashionable London. He was presented at Court, examined by scientists and painted by a series of artists. He learned to skate and play chess, and developed a liking for the theatre. At the end of two years he was taken back to the Pacific by Cook who left him at the island of Huahine. In this landmark book, McCormick creates a portrait of Omai and a picture of his two worlds, the Polynesian and the European.

Captain Bligh and the mutiny on the Bounty have become proverbial in their capacity to evoke the extravagant and violent abuse of power. But William Bligh was one of the least violent disciplinarians in the British navy. It is this paradox which inspired Greg Dening to ask why the mutiny took place. His book explores the theatrical nature of what was enacted in the power-play on deck, on the beaches at Tahiti and in the murderous settlement at Pitcairn, on the altar stones and temples of sacrifice, and on the catheads from which men were hanged. Part of the key lies in the curious puzzle of Mr Bligh's bad language.

Hawaiian Music in Motion explores the performance, reception, transmission, and adaptation of Hawaiian music on board ships and in the islands, revealing the ways both maritime commerce and imperial confrontation facilitated the circulation of popular music in the nineteenth century. James Revell Carr draws on journals and ships' logs to trace the circulation of Hawaiian song and dance worldwide as Hawaiians served aboard American and European ships. He also examines important issues like American minstrelsy in Hawaii and the ways Hawaiians achieved their own ends by capitalizing on Americans' conflicting expectations and fraught discourse around hula and other musical practices.