The papers in The French-Speaking Pacific range from straight geology — an argument for endo-upwelling in atolls as a mechanism for nutrient supply to corals and for phosphate deposition — to literary criticism — an essay on "Tahiti and the geography of paradisiac spaces". Most, however, are split between physical and human geography, combining geology, ecology, meteorology, and environmental studies or economics, politics, and history. They cover independent Vanuatu as well as the French Territories of New Caledonia, French Polynesia, and Wallis and Futuna.

While some of the details were a little too specialised for me, I found almost all of the papers accessible and interesting. Minor quibbles are that the region covered doesn't form a natural unit for physical geography and that there is no introduction — a brief history of the French presence in the Pacific would help to set the papers in context.

November 1999

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Related reviews:

- books about France + French history
- books about Oceania + Pacific history
- more geography
- books published by Boombana