Reimagining the American Pacific : Duke University Press : 9780822325239 : 0822325233 : 01 Jul 2000 : In this compelling critique Rob Wilson explores the creation of the ?Pacific Rim? in the American imagination and how the concept has been variously adapted and resisted in Hawai?i, the Pacific Islands, New Zealand, and Australia. Reimagining the American Pacific ranges from the nineteenth century to the present and draws on theories of postmodernism, transnationality, and post-Marxist geography to contribute to the ongoing discussion of what constitutes ?global? and ?local.? Wilson begins by tracing the arrival of American commerce and culture in the Pacific through missionary and imperial forces in the nineteenth century and the parallel development of Asia/Pacific as an idea. Using an impressive range of texts?from works by Herman Melville, James Michener, Maori and Western Samoan novelists, and Bamboo Ridge poets to Baywatch, films and musicals such as South Pacific and Blue Hawaii