A Footnote to History: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa
 | |
| Author | Robert Louis Stevenson |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Subject | Samoan Civil War |
| Publisher | Cassell |
Publication date | 1892 |
| Media type | book |
| Pages | 322 |
| ISBN | 0-8248-1857-1 |
| OCLC | 227258432 |
A Footnote to History: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa is an 1892 historical non-fiction work by Robert Louis Stevenson describing the contemporary Samoan Civil War.[1]
Robert Louis Stevenson arrived in Samoa in 1889 and built a house at Vailima. He quickly became passionately interested, and involved, in the attendant political machinations. These involved the three colonial powers battling for control of Samoa – America, Germany and Britain – and the indigenous factions struggling to preserve their ancient political system. The book covers the period from 1882 to 1892.[2]
The book served as such a stinging protest against existing conditions that it resulted in the recall of two officials, and Stevenson for a time feared that it would result in his own deportation. When things had finally blown over he wrote to Sidney Colvin, who came from a family of distinguished colonial administrators, "I used to think meanly of the plumber; but how he shines beside the politician!"[3]
References
- ^ "R.L Stevenson on Samoa" (A contemporary book review.). The New York Times. August 14, 1892. Retrieved January 23, 2015.
- ^ "A Footnote to History: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa, 1892". RLS website. Archived from the original on January 9, 2015. Retrieved January 23, 2015.
- ^ Letter to Sidney Colvin, April 17, 1893, Vailima Letters, Chapter XXVIII.
External links
- Stevenson, Robert Louis (1892). A Footnote to History: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa. London: Cassell; New York: Scribners, 1892: eBooks@Adelaide, The University of Adelaide Library. ISBN 9780824818579. OCLC 227258432. Archived from the original on October 3, 2009. Retrieved January 23, 2015.
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