cover image Keneti: South Seas Adventures of Kenneth Emory

Keneti: South Seas Adventures of Kenneth Emory

Bob Krauss. University of Hawaii Press, $35 (419pp) ISBN 978-0-8248-1153-2

Kenneth Emory was to Honolulu's Bishop Museum what Margaret Mead was to the American Museum of Natural History. Spanning five decades, his work encompassed the remnants of ancient Polynesian culture and the transition to modern life. Toward the end of his career, Emory made significant archeological discoveries that pinpointed major migration routes in the South Pacific. His travels took him to remote atolls in the Society and Marquesa Is landsplaces where ships called only a few times a year. (he was once marooned for two months). Newspaperman Bob Krauss, a friend and the author of Here's Hawaii , gives a well-rounded picture of a man dedicated to his profession. His account of Emory's life is also a story of adventure in exotic places and a capsule history of Pacific anthropology. It should have wide appeal for readers who have enjoyed Mead and Heyerdahl as well as for local people. Photos, maps. (Dec.)