In 1932, Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall became bestselling authors with the publication of Mutiny on the Bounty, based upon the true story of mutiny on board an English naval vessel in the late eighteenth century. They followed their success with sequels, Men Against the Sea (1934) and Pitcairn's Island (1938). The books tell of exciting nautical adventures, idyllic life on Pacific islands, romantic affairs between sailors and native girls, and power struggles in which good ultimately triumphs over evil. These were the topics, exotic fantasies of long ago and far away, that offered Americans an emotional escape from the throes of economic depression during the 1930s.

In 1933, In the Wake of the Bounty, the story of the mutiny, was filmed in a documentary starring Errol Flynn. Some of the film was shot on location on Pitcairn's Island where, in 1788, the Bounty mutineers found...