The Far Land

December 1, 2021
A South Pacific tale of "tribalism, trauma, psychopathy, paranoia, and survival in the bleakest of conditions." After numerous books and films, the story of the 1789 mutiny on the British navy ship Bountyis fairly well known--the Hollywood version, at least. Fletcher Christian led a group to overthrow the tyrannical Capt. Bligh and then sail into the South Pacific sunset. However, according to this meticulously researched book, that was far from the end of the adventure. The mutiny was just the prologue, writes Presser, a travel writer who has visited more than 130 countries; the real story involves what happened to the mutineers later. Eventually, they reached the daunting Pitcairn Island, one of the most remote islands in the world. Leading a mixed bag of sailors, Tahitian men, and Tahitian women that the Englishmen had taken as partners, Fletcher pronounced the island perfect for a self-sustaining, peaceful, and democratic minisociety. Of course, all did not go as planned. Some of the ex-sailors wanted a Caribbean-style feudal system and treated the Tahitian men as slaves and the women as pieces of a rotating harem. Inevitably, there was an outbreak of violence, although after several cycles of murder and retribution, it burned itself out and a measure of peace was reestablished. Eighteen years after the initial landing, another ship chanced upon them. By that time, there was a growing population of offspring--so many that some eventually moved to another island. Presser's extensive research included "hundreds of resources from old captains' logs to newspaper clippings to the other tomes penned by writers who have similarly descended down into the darkness of Pitcairn. He also lived there for several months, and he found the people to be tough yet also gossipy and obsessive. Armchair adventurers will appreciate the author's sharp and sympathetic eye, showing us the mechanics of a truly remote civilization. Presser's detailed account provides a sense of authority to a story too bizarre to be anything but true.

COPYRIGHT(2021) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

January 1, 2022

On April 28th, 1789, somewhere near the island of Tofua in the south Pacific, Fletcher Christian led a bloodless mutiny aboard the HMS Bounty. Versions of what happened on that fateful night have long taken root in the popular imagination, thanks in no small part to films starring Clark Gable and Marlon Brando. But far less has been told about what came next for the mutineers, who were not seen again until 1808 when American captain Mayhew Folger stumbled upon tiny Pitcairn Island where the mutineers had been laying low from the Royal Navy. With painstaking detail, travel writer Presser tells the incredible story of Pitcairn and the people who have lived there since 1789. The narrative alternates between the history of the mutineers' violent and chaotic settlement of this "tiny rock" and an account of the month Presser spent living among the 50 or so inhabitants who call it home today. Nearly all Pitcairn Islanders are direct descendants of the mutineers and their Tahitian consorts; as Presser learns, they have yet to escape their ancestors' legacy. VERDICT Presser does an able job blending Pitcairn Island's dark present with its darker past. Travel enthusiasts and armchair explorers will find a lot to like here.--Colin Chappell

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 7, 2022
Travel writer Presser debuts with a fascinating account of what happened after the HMS Bounty mutineers and their Tahitian companions settled on the remote South Pacific island of Pitcairn in 1790. Interwoven with this dramatic history is Presser’s chronicle of his 2018 visit to Pitcairn to meet the island’s 48 inhabitants, most of them descendants of the mutineers. Drawn to Pitcairn in part because its “punishing verticality” made it so inaccessible, the fugitives kept their whereabouts hidden for 18 years. Presser focuses on their efforts to establish a settlement and the frightening ways their colony devolved through infighting, drunken rages, and a revolt by the Polynesians, who were treated like slaves. By the fourth year on Pitcairn, most of the Bounty mutineers were dead, Presser notes. Arriving in 2018 via the island’s only link to the outside world—a cargo ship that visits four times a year—Presser finds two warring clans bound together by the island’s “widespread legacy of sexual misconduct.” Though he occasionally veers into melodrama, Presser expertly intertwines the historical and contemporary elements of the story and brings Pitcairn’s unusual culture to vibrant life. Readers will have a tough time putting this one down.

Starred review from June 1, 2022

Presser, a journalist and adventurer, writes about his visit to Pitcairn Island in the South Pacific, one of the most isolated places on earth. Its topography does not allow for an airstrip; a freighter visits once every 3 months; the population is 48. The island is notable worldwide because of the 1789 Bounty mutiny. Some of the crew put Captain Bly and others into a small boat and set them adrift. The mutineers sailed away in the Bounty and found the Pitcairn--a perfect place to hide. Presser alternates tales of his experiences on the island with a history of the crew of the Bounty, how they came to be in the South Pacific, the events that led to the mutiny, the search for a secluded island where they would be safe from capture, and the island mania that almost destroyed the settlement. The work is based on extensive research and interviews with the local residents, some of whom are likely descendants of the mutineers. It is well read by Steve Quinn, who provides all the appropriate nuances. VERDICT Readers of history will enjoy; highly recommended.--Joanna M. Burkhardt

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.