Overview
This book is about A.P. Lutali's life experiences growing up in American Samoa and becoming a strong leader of this tiny U.S. territory in the South Pacific Ocean. He tells the story of a legend passed down from his elders of how the islands were created. He then moved on to the story of how the Samoan island archipelago was split in two by the super powers of the 1900s (Germany, Great Britain, and the United States). The story of the how American Samoa got its name and how the U.S. Navy took over governance of the small islands was told. Also, the U.S. Navy handed over island administration responsibility to a US Government agency (the U.S. Department of the Interior) in the 1950s. White Governors were appointed in Washington to look after the island government until 1979 when the Interior Department allowed local natives to hold elections to select their own governors from the local population. A.P. Lutali is one of the leaders influenced by the American empire strategic moves in the Pacific Islands in the 1970s and 1980s.