| A Footnote to History: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Robert Louis Stevenson |
| Language | English |
| Subject(s) | Samoan Civil War |
| Genre(s) | history |
| Publisher | Cassell |
| Publication date | 1892 |
| Published in English |
1892 |
| Media type | book |
| Pages | 322 |
| ISBN | 0824818571 |
| OCLC Number | 227258432 |
A Footnote to History: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa is a historical non-fiction work by Robert Louis Stevenson. describing the Samoan Civil War.[1]
Robert Louis Stevenson arrived in Samoa in 1889 and built a house at Vailima. He quickly became passionately interested, and involved, in the attendant political machinations. These involved the three colonial powers battling for control of Samoa - America, Germany and Britain - and the indigenous factions struggling to preserve their ancient political system. The book covers the period from 1882 to 1892.[2]
The book served as such a stinging protest against existing conditions that it resulted in the recall of two officials, and Stevenson for a time feared that it would result in his own deportation. When things had finally blown over he wrote to Colvin, who came from a family of distinguished colonial administrators, "I used to think meanly of the plumber; but how he shines beside the politician!"[3]