The South Seas in the Modern World (1942) surveys the economic, social, educational and strategic problems facing the islands of the Pacific dependencies on the eve of the Second World War. The ways of living that met the needs of the islanders had been disrupted by the arrival of white traders and missionaries, carrying with them new diseases, causing economic distress and social chaos. As Island societies began to stabilise, global war waged by distant colonial powers caused repercussions across the region.