The local historian and retired educator also wrote “History of the Northern Mariana Islands” which was published in 1991.
“You will find a lot of new things in the new book,” he told Variety in an interview.
He said Spanish historian Carlos Madrid provided materials regarding the Marianas during the Spanish period.
Information from Filipino scholar Dr Augusto V. de Viana’s regarding the Filipino revolutionaries exiled to the Marianas is also included in the new book, he said.
“For every chapter I’ve dealt with professors who specialized in these areas, including local people,” he said.
Farrell said his book is not only for students but for the general public as well.
“We are also hoping that the schools on Guam will be interested in using this book because no book of this nature exists for the middle schools on Guam,” he said.
Farrell started writing the book last year.
The Board of Education approved the funding which was granted by the federal government, he said.
“This came out from the same grant just like the first book in 1991 which sold a lot of copies to the general public,” he added.
He expects his new book to be out by the end of the year.
He is expecting 3,000 copies for the first publication.
People who read the book will recognize that the Mariana islands “succeeded very well as a single entity when they were all one government and the people traveled back and forth between Saipan, Tinian, Rota and Guam very freely either on Chamorro or Carolinian canoes,” he said.
He added, “It may cause people to recognize that there might be value to [Guam-NMI] reunification.”
But Farrell said there was no political agenda when he wrote the book.
“This is pure history, this is direct history, and there is no political influence in this book,” he added.
“I am honored the people were pleased with the work that I did 20 years ago and have confidence in me to do it again,” he said.
