Wilson begins by tracing the arrival of American commerce and culture in the Pacific through missionary and imperial forces in the 19th century and the parallel development of Asia/Pacific as an idea. Using a range of texts - from works by Herman Melville, James Michener, Maori and Western Samoan novelists, and Bamboo Ridge poets to Baywatch , films and musicals such as South Pacific and Blue Hawaii , and native Hawaiian shark god poetry - Wilson illustrates what it means for a space to be regionalised .