Tahiti, Voyage Through Paradise (1953)

George Eggleston was an editor for Reader's Digest in the late 1940s, when he came upon the idea for a travel story for his magazine, where in, he and his wife, Hazel, would go to the remote South Pacific islands surrounding Tahiti. Despite, the recent ending of World War II, the islands at that time were extremely challenging to get to. Air flight to them was sparse and inconsistent. Commercial ships to Papeete sailed on a random schedule at best. But he and Hazel, with some difficulty did indeed arrive at Papeete, Tahiti in the early 1950s.

Once there, they were able to charter a small sailboat and captain. For the next several months they sailed throughout French Polynesia and even some of the Cook Islands.

He left an amazing travelogue because, even at this late date, so much of Polynesia was still living the traditional Polynesia life style. Tourism, big hotels, and even air flight had not really found this corner of Polynesia yet. The author really experienced the end of an era and he experienced it like you would daydream about. Captivating tropical beauty, gem-like islands floating in diaphanous waters, and of course, the paragons of happiness and hospitality, the native islanders.

The author does an admirable job of describing what he saw as well as experienced. But the frosting on this cake is the dozens of terrific black and white photographs he took of the islands and the islanders.

It is an amazing book to read and dream about. It is virtually a last look at traditional Polynesia before the Age of Tourism swept over the South Seas.