'Scott has presented a view of a long-forgotten part of Pacific and New Zealand history that is often intriguing and disturbing, but above all offers a very readable human story of how greed and inhumanity of one generation can be understood and forgiven by the application of aroha in its full meaning of the term.' – Michael O’Leary, Landfall Tauraka Review
'Hamilton’s kinetic capsule sweeps like a tornado siphoning Lapita settlement, Dutch exploration, South American slavery, Down Under servitude, infectious disease, Kiwi justice, Tongan gossip, and the adventure travel of an intrepid Spaniard. Yet at the end of the day ‘tis ‘Ata that remains – a rocky isle, now uninhabited, with its 18th century ruins glimmering in the subtropical sun, as your Airbus hurtles you to bustling Auckland.' – Michael Horowitz, Scoop Review of Books
'It's a story of environmental destruction, resistance to imperialism, the global effort to abolish slavery, and most of all, a terrible and opportunistic crime.' – Radio New Zealand
'[Hamilton] he likes to tell real stories with narrative flair and scholarly learning, qualities which are thrillingly evident in his new book The Stolen Island: Searching for ‘Ata.' – Steve Braunias, The Spinoff
'Scott Hamilton’s brilliant new book, The Stolen Island, investigates the people-snatching raid on the Tongan island of ‘Ata.' – Leilani Tamu, The Spinoff
'Sociologist Scott Hamilton, in The Stolen Island: Searching for ‘Ata, looks at what happened when the slavers – sailing out of Wellington no less – arrived at the small island of ‘Ata, around 160 kilometres south of Tongatapu. In its 112 pages Hamilton goes beyond history and describes his own reaction, and that of Tongans, to what he found.' – Michael Field, The Spinoff
Read 'They have six fingers on their hands': Part 1 of the strange story of Tonga's lost island of 'Ata' in The Spinoff
'Scott Hamilton did a commendable job of tackling this topic; clearly it was something that intrigued him and piecing the puzzle together satisfied much of his own curiosity about the island, but to put his journey and findings into a book means that people are able to know a bit more about the history of slavery in New Zealand and the Pacific, but also the history of a little uninhabited island between Tonga and New Zealand, ‘Ata.' – Sarah Hayward, Booksellers New Zealand
'An "extraordinary" piece of New Zealand history has come to light, 153 years on.' – Bruce Munro, Otago Daily Times
'A new book by a New Zealand sociologist about a kidnapped group of Tongans has shed further light on the history of 19th century Blackbirding in the Pacific.' – Bindi Bryce, ABC
