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Fifth edition of Tinian history book now available
The fifth edition of Tinian: A Brief History, which first appeared during the recently concluded Marianas History Conference, is now available in the market beginning yesterday.
Written by historian Don A. Farrell, the 113-page book chronicles the history of one of the three principal islands of the CNMI, dating from prehistory up to the present.
Tinian: A Brief History is edited by Bruce M. Petty, produced by Micronesian Productions, and published by Pacific Historic Parks.
Farrell said yesterday that this is the first time the book has been published by an organization outside the Commonwealth.
“We’re very proud of that because it means that the history of the Marianas is going to be reaching people outside the Marianas,” he said.
Farrell said the book is intended not only for the local population but also for island visitors to allow them “to take home the history of our islands and share it with their friends at home.”
The first edition of Tinian: A Brief History, Farrell said, was a black-and-white book published in 1987 and was his first attempt at writing the history of Tinian, made possible by a great deal of interviews and photographs.
Farrell noted that this edition has a colored section and contains English text and photographs that are captioned both in English and Japanese. He said the Japanese translation was provided by N. Horiguchi.
“I convinced him to do the Japanese translations because he is an elder Japanese who was born during the war in Japan and he is of course very sensitive to the proper translation of American into Japanese so that it can be properly understood by our Japanese visitors, particularly for our Japanese man’amko,” explained Farrell.
Farrell pointed out, however, that the book does not contain all the details he makes available in school textbooks. “I tried to create something that was within the space available, representative of the history of Tinian,” he told Saipan Tribune.
Farrell urged community members to purchase copies of the book and send it to family members and friends off island to help create awareness about Tinian.
“If there was a larger purpose in mind when we created this, it wasn’t just for us to celebrate ourselves but for us to pass on the ward to the outside world of who we are,” he added.
Tinian: A Brief History is available for sale at the American Memorial Park, CNMI Museum, and Bestseller store at Joeten Susupe Shopping Center.
By Clarissa V. David
Reporter
