Mike Pitts has written the true and fascinating story of Easter Island and its amazing statues

Ken Follett

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

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

In this detailed, intelligent, humane work, Pitts has given us a salutary corrective to centuries of Western prejudice and fantasy

Literary Review

A gripping story which, in a small way, redeems the horror of the Victorian brutality ... [Pitts] is good at bringing alive human stories

Spectator

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