Taking Hawaii: How Thirteen Honolulu Businessmen Overthrew the Queen of Hawaii in 1893, with a Bluff

by Stephen Dando-Collins

On a January afternoon in 1893, men hunkered down behind sandbagged emplacements in the streets of Honolulu, with rifles, machineguns and cannon ready to open fire. Troops and police loyal to the queen of the sovereign nation of Hawaii faced off against a small number of rebel Honolulu businessmen--American, British, German, and Australian. In between them stood hundreds of heavily armed US sailors and marines. Just after 2.00 p.m., the first shot was fired, and a military coup began. This is the true, tragic and at times amazing story of the 1893 overthrow of Queen Liliuokalani of Hawaii and her government. It's also the story of a five-year police state regime in Hawaii following the overthrow, and an attempted counter-coup by Hawaiians in 1895. And of how Hawaii became a US possession. In TAKING HAWAII, award-winning author Stephen Dando-Collins, (STANDING BEAR IS A PERSON, LEGIONS OF ROME, TYCOON'S WAR), reveals previously little-known facts uncovered during years of research on several continents, in the most dramatic and comprehensive chronicle of the end of Hawaii's monarchy ever published. Using scores of first-hand accounts, this often minute-by-minute narrative also shows for the first time how the queen's overthrow teetered on a knife-edge, only to come about purely through bluff. TAKING HAWAII reads like an exciting novel. Yet this tale of a grab for power, of misjudgment and injustice, truly took place. Judge for yourself whether you think the queen of Hawaii was wronged, or was wrong.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, American History, American, 19th Century

358 pages, Paperback

First published April 23, 2012

About the author

Stephen Dando-Collins is the multi-award-winning author of 48 books. British reviewer, noted playwright Robin Hawdon, says that Dando-Collins is "the modern age's foremost dramatizer of Greek and Roman history," while American reviewer bestselling military author Lt. Colonel Dave Grossman has described Dando-Collins as "a literary giant." Considered an authority on the legions of ancient Rome, Dando-Collins has written ancient and modern history, children's novels, scientific nonfiction, and biographies. The bulk of his works deal with military history, ranging from Greek, Persian and Roman times to American, British and Australian 19th century history and World I and Word War II.
Many of his books have been translated into foreign languages including Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Polish, Dutch, Russian, Albanian and Korean.
His most acclaimed book on the ancient military, 'LEGIONS OF ROME,' was the culmination of decades of research into Rome's imperial legions.
Dando-Collins aims to travel roads that others have not, unearthing new facts and opening new perspectives on often forgotten or overlooked people and aspects of history.
He has two new books in 2024: 'CAESAR VERSUS POMPEY: Determining Rome's Greatest General, Statesman & Nation-Builder,' (Turner, US), and 'THE BUNA SHOTS: The Amazing Story Behind Two Photographs that Changed the Course of World War Two,' (Australian Scholarly Publishing).

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stephen Dando-Collins's Taking Hawaii: How Thirteen Honolulu Businessmen Overthrew the Queen of Hawaii in 1893, with a Bluff is a somewhat sad book on how a bunch of American businessmen ganged up on the Queen of Hawaii and forced her to abdicate, with help from a corrupt and lying American legate, John L. Stevens, and the crew of an American warship. Queen Lili'uokalani made the mistake of looking after the needs of the native population of the islands, whereas the American and other European businessmen had no such intention.

[Gary · Rating 3 out of 5]

The overthrow of Queen Liliuokalani of Hawaii by a handful of white haole businessmen/children of missionaries is a definite blot in American history. These men were representative of no one but themselves and cared for none among the majority of the Hawaiian people who loved their queen.

But it was the end of the 19th century, when American imperialism was justing catching wind in its sails, and there was nothing to stop them. And when an administration came into power in Washington that supported the drive toward annexing the islands as a US protectorate, the die was fully cast.

This book tells the story of the intrigue and the "revolution" in great detail. Sometimes, in my opinion, OVERLY great detail. When the plot actually hatches on the streets of Honolulu, we're given practically a minute-by-minute account of where all the players were and what they were doing, e.g. "So-and-so now crossed the street. He saw Mr. X on the sidewalk." I'm not sure I needed to have the picture quite that finely drawn.

In the book's favor, it can claim to be presenting the definitive account of the story of the end of Hawaii's monarchy, and the establishment of the islands' white oligarchy. But I would have been satisfied with a little less.

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. The story of how native Hawaiians were dispossessed of their sovereignty by racist capitalist conspirators. The telling gets bogged down describing all the many actors in the plot. Still, the story deserves to be widely known.

[Amber Blue · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This story needs to be told & I’m glad he did!! I did get lost from time to time with all the characters, but it took those people to overthrow a monarchy. It left me sad, that my country did this to these people. I also can’t believe it was another 60 years or so after the overthrow that a Hawaii became a state.

[Joshua Horn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book ably tells the tale of the Hawaiian monarchy, and how it was overthrown, with the assistance of the United States. It is a fascinating story, and it is interesting to see how the power shifted between the different players and their various intrigues. It was a remarkable series of events, but the human nature that drove it is the same that we see over and over again, even in our own lives.

One negative point, is that although the author said he was writing an unbiased account, he is clearly pro Hawaiian, too much for my taste, and in a pretty weird prologue nearly says he is writing the book to bring peace to the ghost of the queen.

[robert moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read about a history I was unfamiliar with. I have been to Hawaii several times but was unaware of the events which took place in the 19th century. This is a history that should be taught in schools so that we on the mainland would not be so naive. I an sure that the geographical location of these beautiful islands was quite enticing to more countries than the U.S.

I


I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the history of the Pacific Islands. A sad fate for a proud people.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

This should be required reading for every American. I read this while traveling in Hawaii. I often like to find books about a place I'm traveling to in order to get a feel for its culture and people. This was the book I chose for my Hawaii vacation (along with Liliuokalani's memoir) and it completely changed my experience of being in Hawaii. I can't imagine how anyone could sit on a Hawaiian beach and not feel differently after reading this book.

[Rick Fifield · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book about the Hawaiian islands and how prior to 1893 they had a monarchy. After January 1893 they became apart of the United States by a small cunning group of white businessmen trying to protect their own interests.No vote of the people of Hawaii ever voted for or against this action. The author also shows how at anytime this action could have been prevented.

[Jacob T · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are at all interested in Hawaiian history, this is a must-read. It's a lot of information, and can be a bit dense at times, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. This is to me, an era in American History that few know about. This book sheds light on the real story of how America took Hawaii. Very thoroughly researched and overall very well written.

[Guy Cabell · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent history, well-written. In this time in American history, as we are beset by the greedy, the racists, and the selfish need for absolute power by a few, it is useful to be reminded of how such human attributes have played out in the past and the damage they have caused.

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall a depressing, but useful, story of how American Manifest Destiny and American exceptionalism played out in Hawaii. Needs pictures of the people involved and maybe a map of Honolulu.

For the general reader.

[Sterling · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the eleventh book of my American history series. It is my last book in the 19th century. (I’ve been trying to wind this century up, but not quite getting there). After reading Mark Twain’s Roughing It I got a taste for reading about Hawaii again so I added this at the last minute. I’m glad that I did because I found that Dando-Collins has written quite a few popular history books and I would like to touch on as many popular history writers this year that I can.

I have known about the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom for years and have even taught about it on multiple occasions. This book promised to add more details to my knowledge about the actual day in 1893 of the rebellion and all of the machinations that went on. It did do that. There were times it was so detailed it was boring to follow and did not turn out to be the pleasant yarn I was hoping for. Maybe it’s that I don’t crave to know more details about this event, maybe it’s that I just need to tackle this book again at another time. I will try again at another point.

Will add more thoughts later…