This short history of Western Samoa is the work of twelve writers from Western Samoa who took part in a history writing project sponsored by the United Nations Development Programme through the Western Samoa Extension Services Centre of the University of the South Pacific.
This book was edited by Malama Meleisea and Penelope Schoeffl Meleisea who also participated as coordinators and writers in the project, which was initiated by Professor Albert Wendt.

This short history is written for the general reader, for senior high school and university students seeking an overview of the events of the past in Samoa from prehistoric times to the contemporary era. It examines thematically the influences of early European settlers, the major churches,the German and New Zealand Colonial periods, the background to Western Samoa's becoming the first independent state in the Pacific Islands in 1962,and the first two decades of the Independent State of Western Samoa.