Eight Decades On, Vanuatu Still Struggles With America’s World War II Legacy

Eight Decades On, Vanuatu Still Struggles With America’s World War II Legacy

Distant, dreamy atolls have been the focus of an American love affair since James A. Michener first published his “Tales of the South Pacific” in 1947. “I wish I could tell you about the South Pacific,” his book begins: The way it actually was. The endless ocean. The infinite specks of coral we called islands. Coconut palms nodding gracefully toward the ocean. Reefs upon which waves broke into spray, and inner lagoons, lovely beyond description.…