White Shadows in the South Seas

White Shadows in the South Seas is Frederick O'Brien's celebrated account of his time living in the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia.

The book blends personal adventure with anthropological observation, offering a detailed and often critical look at the effects of European and American contact on the indigenous people.

O'Brien romanticizes the beauty and simplicity of island life while lamenting the cultural destruction brought by outsiders, making the work both a travelogue and a moral commentary on colonialism and cultural change.