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« A clear, confident, and compelling new account of the place and its historians” - _The New Yorker._ “A comprehensive history of Easter Island’s secrets... a captivating... fascinating history” - _The New York Times_ . “Revealing... Magnificent... Completely convincing” - _Daily Mail (UK)_ . A lively and timely work of history, combining historical adventure and historical restoration, by British archaeologist Mike Bates. A book that rewrites the popular, if flawed, history of Rapa Nui (Easter Island), and uses newly uncovered discoveries and documents to challenge long-held historical assumptions about the man-made environmental disaster that caused the island's collapse. Rapa Nui, known to Western cultures as Easter Island for centuries, has been a source of mystery. While the massive stone statues that dot the island have dominated the popular Western imagination since Europeans first set foot on its soil in 1722, in recent years the island has gained notoriety as a cautionary tale of environmental destruction. The island's history, as recorded, tells the story of Polynesians who disdained agriculture, plundered its natural resources, and fought among themselves, destroying its fragile ecosystem, and becoming a warning to us all about the fragility of our natural world. ## But what if this date is wrong In his book “Island at the Edge of the World”_, writer and archaeological researcher Mike Pitts presents a direct challenge to the prevailing narrative about Rapa Nui, highlighting new research and documents that tell An exciting and surprising story about what really led to the downfall of the island. Drawing on the latest archaeological discoveries, Bates paints a very different picture of life on the island before the first Europeans arrived, investigating why a Polynesian people, who flourished for centuries throughout the South Pacific, failed to thrive on Rapa Nui. Bates also reveals the momentous story of one of the first anthropologists to study Rapa Nui, Catherine Routledge, the distinguished Oxford-trained scholar who was pivotal in gathering first-hand accounts from Polynesians living on Rapa Nui in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Although Routledge's remarkable research documented the oral traditions of life before 1722, her work was widely ignored because of her gender, her reliance on indigenous perspectives, and her conclusions that contradicted those of her historian contemporaries. This book is a stunning work of rewriting history, raising fundamental questions about who has the right to write history, and the dangers of ignoring its true authors. Thought-provoking and inspiring, The Island at the Edge of the World will change how people view Easter Island, its colonial legacy, and who is truly responsible for its destruction.