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.