cover image THE UNITED STATES AND THE PACIFIC: History of a Frontier

THE UNITED STATES AND THE PACIFIC: History of a Frontier

Jean Heffer, , trans. from the French by W.D. Wilson. . Univ. of Notre Dame, $48.95 (504pp) ISBN 978-0-268-04308-7

The Pacific as an American frontier opened in 1784 when the first U.S. ship rounded Cape Horn. According to Heffer, a French scholar and historian, the Pacific frontier saw three stages of exploration over the next 210 years: initial discovery, followed by expanded American involvement, and culminating, since WWII, in the disappearance of the frontier as the cultures were increasingly intermingled and the Pacific became an "American lake." Readers may be familiar with some elements of the story, such as the incorporation of Hawaii into the U.S., the history of whaling and the war in the Pacific. Few, however, will have command of the entire sweep of Heffer's vision, which ranges from Japan to Chile and from Vancouver to Australia as he traces the political, economic and historical dimensions of the frontier's development. But the book's unifying concern is its American perspective: in recounting how U.S. influences (military, financial, social) permeated the Pacific in the 19th and 20th centuries, the author explores the tensions and contradictions that accompanied the rise of U.S. power. For example, while U.S. ships opened up trading with Japan, adaptation of American technology in postwar Japan has led to massive trade deficits in recent decades. And American popular culture is both welcomed and condemned in Pacific nations, while the U.S. has found much to admire and much to fear in Asian cultures. Wilson's translation is polished and lucid, and Heffer handles the complexities of his story adroitly; his historical synthesis will introduce a new generation of readers to a region certain to play an increasingly important role in world affairs. (Jan.)