O'Brien, Frederick

O'Brien, Frederick( 1869–1932),
journalist and globe-trotting vagabond, whose first book, White Shadows in the South Seas (1919), an account of his life in the Marquesas, had a nationwide vogue with a public weary of wartime realities. He wrote two similar books, has been credited with reviving interest in the works of Melville, and inspired a host of imitations exploiting the glamour of the Pacific islands.