W. M. Peck

This is very well-written, and often very funny. Dr. Peck went to the South Pacific after World War II, in the wake of the bomb testing, and wound up making his life there. He has a wonderful way of capturing the people he meets and the island culture, and he's a gifted writer as well with charming turns of phrase: "Bikini Atoll with its scant rosary of bony coral islands, and a scar that won't fit because it's too large and bright and beautiful..."

I would recommend this for anyone interested in the South Pacific islands and their culture. Peck was, perhaps, the J. Maarten Troost of the 1940s and 1950s.… (altro)