Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview
  • Unsung Land, Aspiring Nation

  • Journeys in Bougainville (Pacific Series)
  • By: Gordon Peake
  • Narrated by: Gordon Peake
  • Length: 5 hrs and 54 mins

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Unsung Land, Aspiring Nation

By: Gordon Peake
Narrated by: Gordon Peake
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £14.99

Buy Now for £14.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

In 2016, Gordon Peake answers a job advertisement for a role with the government of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, a collection of islands on the eastern fringe of Papua New Guinea looking to strike out as a country of its own. In his day job he sees at first hand the challenges of trying to stand up new government systems. Away from the office he travels with former rebels, follows an anthropologist’s ghost and visits landmarks from the region’s conflict. In 2019, he witnesses joy and euphoria as the people of Bougainville vote in a referendum on their future. Out of these encounters emerges an unforgettable portrait of this potential nation-in-waiting.

Blending narrative history, travelogue, and personal reminiscences, Unsung Land, Aspiring Nation is an engaging memoir as well as an insightful meditation on the realities of nation-making and international development.

"Heartfelt and honest. This book is an insightful read and a valuable addition to scholarship on Bougainville’s journey to peace." (Joseph Nobetau, former Chief Secretary to the Autonomous Bougainville Government)

"An excellent piece of engaged travel writing. With first-hand observation and curiosity, Gordon has produced a deeply informed, compelling and evocative account of war, survival and nation-building in what may become the world’s newest country." (Tom Bamforth, author of The Rising Tide: Among the Islands and Atolls of the Pacific Ocean)

©2022 ANU Press (P)2023 Gordon Peake
activate_samplebutton_t1

What listeners say about Unsung Land, Aspiring Nation

Average customer ratings

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.