Andrew Crowe has without doubt produced a major work of scholarly synthesis regarding the voyaging achievements and history of the Polynesians, one that will be accessible to the lay reader yet also required reading for the serious scholar of this fascinating region.--Patrick Vinton Kirch
Although departing from classical narratives of migrations, [Crowe's] organisation remains compelling and surely succeeds in demonstrating the unrivalled voyaging capacities of Polynesians generally and Māori specifically. . . . Another noteworthy quality of the book lies in the exhaustive review of Polynesian places. Crowe does not omit archipelagos commonly left aside in the big narratives. . . . Chapter 10 remains in my view a tour de force of this volume. Crowe describes here what a voyage of settlement may have looked like in the most accurate and vivid way.--Guillaume Molle, Australian National University "The Journal of the Polynesian Society, 128:2 (June 2019)"
Pathway of the Birds contains such fascinating history, vignettes, maps, and images, the reader will be drawn to read it again and again and absorb more details along the way. . . . Crowe has assembled a compelling picture of the Polynesian age of exploration and settlement that provides a necessary contribution to the existing literature.--Kathryn Lage Librarian, Moss Landing Marine Laboratories / Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute "The Globe: Journal of the Australian and New Zealand Map Society Inc., 85:1 (2019)"
The book is very well written and illustrated, and is comprehensively referenced. . . . I highly recommend [it] for its readability and presentation while offering an informed account of how Polynesians in double-hulled canoes voyaged over vast distances of the Pacific Ocean from small island to small island, carrying with them the materials required for successful settlement.--Louise Furey "International Journal of Maritime History, 31:4"
The book, indeed, is very much a paean in honor of the remarkable Maori. . . . Each chapter is well illustrated with maps of the different islands and photographs of their various natural and archaeological resources. . . . [It is] a veritable mine of information about the environments and resources of ancient Polynesia. It stands as an excellent addition to earlier books on Polynesian navigation by authors such as David Lewis and Geoffrey Irwin.--Peter Bellwood "Journal of Anthropological Research, 75:4 (Winter 2019)"
Andrew Crowe has as-sembled a stunning amount of evidence from archaeology, ge-netics, linguistics, meteorol-ogy, astronomy, zoology and tradition to show not only that the Polynesians knew how to navigate across the seemingly trackless waves but the paths they followed, their techniques for locating islands and how they adapted to so many differ-ent environments. Wonderfully informative and entertaining.-- "New Zealand Weekend Herald"
Crowe's book [is] a highly readable and lucid account of the early Polynesians' epic saga. Illustrated with photographs and maps, his account of the Pacific's cultural, ecological and navigational settlement will appeal to both the general reader and the specialist.-- "New Zealand Listener"
I was impressed with how many different disciplines--scientific disciplines--are all threaded together in one book. . . . It's beautifully researched, very in-depth. . . . Crowe's linguistic knowledge is truly impressive. . . . A beautiful, beautiful book. [For a podcast of the entire review, go to: https: //www.magic.co.nz/home/archivedtalk/on-demand/weekend-variety-wireless/2018/09/-pathway-of-the-birds.html]-- "Radio review by Lisa Matisoo-Smith, University of Otago"
Full of color photographs, this excellent book includes many maps, a complete list of endnotes, a comprehensive index and a bibliography for further research.--C. Henry Depew "The Ensign (Fall 2020)"