The Ivory Tower and Beyond: Participant Historians of the Pacific
Author: Doug Munro
Date Of Publication: May 2009
Isbn13: 978-1-4438-0534-6
Isbn: 1-4438-0534-3
There is a tradition of “participant history” among historians of the Pacific Islands, unafraid to show their hands on issues of public importance and risking controversy to make their voices heard. This book explores the theme of the participant historian by delving into the lives of J.C. Beaglehole, J.W. Davidson, Richard Gilson, Harry Maude and Brij V. Lal. They lived at the interface of scholarship and practical engagement in such capacities as constitutional advisers, defenders of civil liberties, or upholders of the principles of academic freedom. As well as writing history, they “made” history, and their excursions beyond the ivory tower informed their scholarship. Doug Munro’s sympathetic engagement with these five historians is likewise informed by his own long-term involvement with the sub-discipline of Pacific History.

Doug Munro knew four of the five subjects of this book. He has lived and worked in many of the places described in this book, including a stint as Davidson’s research assistant. The Ivory Tower and Beyond is itself an exercise in participant history. The author is Adjunct Professor of History at Victoria University of Wellington

“With infinite care and great sensitivity, Doug Munro has succeeded in combining biography with institutional research. The contribution of the Australian National University’s Department of Pacific History during the two to three decades after 1950 is well served by these portraits and the sympathetic and perceptive scholarship given to them.”

—Colin Newbury, Linacre College, Oxford

“Munro’s cast of characters are dealt with biographically and critically, but in a way that roundly contextualises their careers, their writings and their other activities. Thus it is that the chapters, while being richly informative and insightful, also read like stylish literary essays. This should not surprise anyone who knows the author or his field. In so packaging his writers Munro has gone well beyond them as individuals.”

—Hugh Laracy, University of Auckland

Price Uk Gbp: 44.99
Price Us Usd: 67.99

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