Although the Pacific islands were front-page news during the 1941-1945 Pacific War, today they are seldom in the American consciousness--except as a perception of Micheneresque tropical paradises. But the islands--10,000 strong and scattered over nearly one-fifth of the earth's surface--still straddle or remain close to the sea and air lanes that link the United States with Australia and Asia, and carry nearly one-half of U.S. foreign trade. New political interests also exist with the recent emergence of a new panoply of independent Pacific island states, extension of U.S. sovereignty to...

Although the Pacific islands were front-page news during the 1941-1945 Pacific War, today they are seldom in the American consciousness--except as a perception of Micheneresque tropical paradises. But the islands--10,000 strong and scattered over nearly one-fifth of the earth's surface--still straddle or remain close to the sea and air lanes that link the United States with Australia and Asia, and carry nearly one-half of U.S. foreign trade. New political interests also exist with the recent emergence of a new panoply of independent Pacific island states, extension of U.S. sovereignty to...