Typee: a Peep at Polynesian Life

"In his first book — a classic of travel and adventure literature — Herman Melville drew upon his experiences in the South Pacific Marquesas Islands as a month-long guest/captive of the Typee people. An anthropological study of a culture that both impressed and alarmed the author, the 1846 narrative is also the exciting story of a stranded sailor''s attempts to escape from an idyllic but ultimately stultifying existence."