Ian Hoskins, author of Sydney Harbour and Coast, expands his gaze to examine Australia's story in a Pacific context; from our relationship with neighbours Papua New Guinea, Tahiti and New Zealand to our complex ties with China, Japan and the United States. Beginning with the shifting of the continents, this sweeping narrative goes on to describe the coming of the Aboriginals and, thousands of years later, the arrival of the Europeans. Hoskins explores Australia's attempts to develop the riches of the region while keeping themselves distinct from the Asians, Melanesians and Polynesians who surrounded them, and how the advent of modern human rights and the creation of the UN after World War Two changed Australia. And, more recently, the offshore detention of asylum seekers, the current debates over climate change and Australia's responsibilities towards its threatened neighbours.