and "The Chamorro civilization of the Mariana Islands had flourished, without external influence, for over 4,000 years. Then, in the sixteenth century, the isolation of this tropical Pacific paradise was shattered by the expanding Spanish empire. In the succeeding generations, the islands' Chamorro culture was infused with Spanish Catholicism, and the rebellious male population was virtually exterminated. In 1898, a growing and confident America usurped the colonial rule of Spain on Guam, largest and most strategically placed of the Marianas. Forty-three years later, Japan took Guam from the United States, and two and a half years after that, America retrieved it. and " - Don A. FarrellThis book follows Guam's story in pictorial form.