Of all the states in the Union, Hawai‘i has the most interesting history. No other state was once a kingdom ruled by kings and queens. No other state was settled predominantly by non-European ethnic groups. No other state ever had a U.S. president, a poet laureate, and a saint. And no other state except Alaska was attacked in World War II.
In less than two centuries, Hawai‘i saw civil wars leading to a unified monarchy, the arrival of missionaries, depopulation from Western diseases, Asian migration for sugar plantations, the monarchy’s overthrow, annexation by the U.S., Pearl Harbor, statehood, and the Hawaiian renaissance.
Hawai‘i: A History traces these transformations, beginning with the Polynesians who first settled the Islands in double-hulled canoes. A forty-page photo insert captures ancient Hawai‘i, Captain Cook’s arrival, Hawaiian royalty, the overthrow, missionaries, whalers, plantation workers, World War II, and natural disasters.
Revised and updated, the book reflects the first two decades of the twenty-first century, weaving together migrations, monarchy, statehood, military presence, and cultural fusion. As it explores Hawai‘i’s rich heritage, the guiding principle of aloha ‘āina, or love for the land, resonates.