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Description
'The true and fascinating story of Easter Island and its amazing statues' KEN FOLLETT
'Revelatory... fascinating... [and] wholly convincing' MAIL ON SUNDAY
'Compelling … a magisterial history' NEW YORK TIMES
Where did they come from? How did they get there? Why did they carve the island's colossal statues? And what happened to the civilisation that raised them?
For centuries, Easter Island – or Rapa Nui – has been cloaked in mystery and speculation.
Now, in his revelatory investigation, archaeologist Mike Pitts unearths a powerful new history of the island, its people and the events that led to its downfall. Bringing to light the latest scientific and archaeological discoveries, Pitts also revives the work of pioneering anthropologist Katherine Routledge, whose priceless research has long been ignored.
Bold, surprising and utterly gripping, Island at the Edge of the World overturns everything we thought we knew about Rapa Nui and where the blame for its devastation truly lies.
Product details
| Published | 11 Sep 2025 |
|---|---|
| Format | Hardback |
| Edition | 1st |
| Pages | 384 |
| ISBN | 9781526667250 |
| Imprint | Bloomsbury Publishing |
| Dimensions | 234 x 153 mm |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
About the contributors
Reviews
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Mike Pitts has written the true and fascinating story of Easter Island and its amazing statues
Ken Follett
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A thought-provoking mix of published past and current work, and rediscovered documents that together provides a usefully different perspective on Rapa Nui's iconic world heritage archaeology
Professor Sue Hamilton
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Rapa Nui has a double history of early Polynesian life and later colonial devastation, both mythologised. Mike Pitts draws on deep research to provide a powerful corrective to such myths. Anyone looking for an intelligent, balanced and accessible account of Rapa Nui should read his book
Chris Gosden, author of THE HISTORY OF MAGIC
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In this detailed, intelligent, humane work, Pitts has given us a salutary corrective to centuries of Western prejudice and fantasy
Literary Review
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A gripping story which, in a small way, redeems the horror of the Victorian brutality ... [Pitts] is good at bringing alive human stories
Spectator
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A crisp, confident and convincing new account of the place and its chroniclers...Pitts's account reflects a broader shift in the consensus, one that many readers will find persuasive, as this one did
Margaret Talbot, New Yorker

























