Island at the Edge of the World

Reviews / Votes

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 * A bold and convincing revision of Rapa Nui's history ... A welcome contribution to Pacific Island history that holds relevance not just for Rapa Nui, but for other islands across this vast ocean * Kirkus * Revelatory ... He offers a far more pragmatic but still fascinating explanation [of Easter Island's history] ... What Pitts describes is wholly convincing -- Christopher Hart * Mail on Sunday * This striking account... [is] a stunning unravelling of many layers of hidden history * Publishers Weekly * There is much in The Island at the Edge of the World to inspire, ponder, and sadden ... it's a big story that says much about all of us - about art and humanity and our hunger to make meaning and to speak it across the centuries * Washington Post * A thoughtful and often quietly corrective work that replaces dramatic speculation with patient archaeological reasoning ... Leaves no stone unturned in dismantling the sensational mysteries and shows where the genuine questions still lie * Asian Review of Books * Compelling ... Pitts has gone deeper than any other writer in cutting through the miasma of misperceptions that shrouds the island ... [A] magisterial history * New York Times * Pitts is great on the Routledges, and his discussion of the main Easter Island topics - the conundrums of the statues, the script, the sweet potato, the many theories the island has inspired - surveys the territory admirably. He presents a convincing case against the theory of the islanders' self destructive "ecocide" * Times Literary Supplement * A ground-breaking, eye-opening work of history and adventure that challenges the prevailing story of Easter Island among tourists and scholars * Esquire, Best Books of 2026 (So Far) * One of archaeology's most fascinating enigmas, explored with depth and subtlety by the British archaeologist Mike Pitts in his compelling book Island at the Edge of the World... the book meticulously lays bare the often overlooked violence unleashed by outsiders: a slow devastation wrought through enslavement, killings, introduced diseases, missionary incursions, and extractive regimes * India Forum *