Captive Paradise: A History of Hawaii

by James L. Haley

The most recent state to join the union, Hawaii is the only one to have once been a royal kingdom. After its "discovery" by Captain Cook in the late 18th Century, Hawaii was fought over by European powers determined to take advantage of its position as the crossroads of the Pacific. The arrival of the first missionaries marked the beginning of the struggle between a native culture with its ancient gods, sexual libertinism and rites of human sacrifice, and the rigid values of the Calvinists. While Hawaii's royal rulers adopted Christianity, they also fought to preserve their ancient ways. But the success of the ruthless American sugar barons sealed their fate and in 1893, the American Marines overthrew Lili'uokalani, the last queen of Hawaii.James L. Haley's Captive Paradise is the story of King Kamehameha I, The Conqueror, who unified the islands through terror and bloodshed, but whose dynasty succumbed to inbreeding; of Gilded Age tycoons like Claus Spreckels who brilliantly outmaneuvered his competitors; of firebrand Lorrin Thurston, who was determined that Hawaii be ruled by whites; of President McKinley, who presided over the eventual annexation of the islands. Not for decades has there been such a vibrant and compelling portrait of an extraordinary place and its people.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History, Audiobook, Travel, Historical, American

447 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 4, 2014

Reviews

[Twila Newey · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author struck me as a Christian apologist. He fawned over the early missionaries and thought the "savages" benefited from their conversion. Certainly, human sacrifice to the Hawaiian Gods was a horrific practice, but so was the forced capture and human sacrifice of slaves to the Christian God that was happening concurrently on the American Continent. He did not connect those dots. He acknowledged racism as problematic several times, but quickly glossed it over. The perspective felt "fair and balanced" the way a conservative partisan news outlet feels fair and balanced--perhaps better facts here though--factual, but with a clearly apologetic bent. So, I gave it three stars because I liked parts of it and it did give me a detailed overview of Hawaiian history that I can clarify and fill in by reading native historical accounts. And finally, he did argue that the events leading up to and the annexation of Hawaii by the sugar boys (a small faction of the missionary's sons and grandsons) was wrong and reparations ought to be made but then continued to rant on about how a return to a romanticized past that never existed is impossible. Based on his own arguments the Hawaiian Monarchy had already shifted from what he paints as a violent hierarchy, to serving the interests of the native population in the 1800's. So, I'm not sure who he's arguing with when he rants on about Native groups wanting a return to the old ways. From the little I've read, most Hawaiian Independence groups, seem to want their lands back and any restoration of the old religion would be about honoring native traditions and their connection to their land, not a return to older superstitions or violent religious rites. Hierarchy? Maybe, it would surprise me, as everyone's lineage has become more broad and complex, but shouldn't that be their choice? When will the U.S. stop with the paternalizing hypocrisy? This is just a beginning for me. I plan to read broadly.

[Karol K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tragic and sad story. Painful to read. I marvel how these same methods of greed and treachery continue to this day with impunity. I recommended highly read the real story not the sugar coated one in our history books.

[Rob Peters · Rating 5 out of 5]

Captive Paradise is a well researched, balanced and intriguing history of the Hawaiian Islands. Starting from the earliest documented days with the Polynesian descended people through it's entry to the United States as a state, Haley recounts the story in a compelling manner.

He doesn't shy away from the hard details of what the culture was like before the Islands were "discovered" by "civilized" Western cultures. From recounting the sometimes brutal religious practices, hierarchical and imbalanced social structure, equality and empowerment of women, sexual freedom, and natural generous, welcoming, and curious nature of the people Haley paints what seems to be an honest and fair picture.

Contact with the broader world brought new concepts and challenges to the natives. They learned quickly about bartering and weapons. The later was a key to Kamehameha being able to unify the islands into a single kingdom.

With the arrival of the missionaries Haley labors to share the different perspectives of the groups and their almost parental feelings towards the indigenous population. He is careful to show the good they did like introducing a written language and education, achieving an almost total literacy rate. At the same time he points out the harm. They brought diseases that decimated the native population, imposed puritanical values, suppressed native culture and tradition, and over generations robbed the people of their rights.

Taking on the complicated transition of the island to an International player in the economy he provides understanding as to how and why Hawaii was quietly conquered through politics. The many twists and turns of different nations looking to assert power over the island to control the strategic geographic position, and valuable agriculture are well documented. He also gives unflinching account of the rulers and their successes and failings. Haley accounts how the descendants of the missionaries worked to suppress the native peoples do many immigrants for their own gains and fortunes.

The intrigues of the American and International political landscape, sugar industry, self serving individuals, racial tensions and evolving moralities all served to shape the history of Hawaii. Sometimes the impacts were good and at others pushed things backwards for this island Paradise.

Captive Paradise is well worth the time to read. It provide and analytical, balanced and influencing account.

[Annie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Please read reviews from actual Hawaiians. This book is Christian white supremacist propaganda.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite having covered American history multiple times in school, I knew nothing about the way Hawaii became part of the US. It turns out, it’s a fascinating story! This history begins with Captain Cook’s arrival on the islands and the state of native culture at the time. From then on, everything is conflict. There’s a struggle between different world powers to make use of Hawaii economically, a culture clash between missionaries and Hawaiians who want preserve native traditions, and several tumultuous changes in the Hawaiian government. The history ends with the annexation of Hawaii, but I’d love to learned even more about the aftermath of annexation.

Typically, I prefer books that proceed in strictly chronological order, but I actually liked that this book didn’t. The beginning gave an overview of some early Hawaiian history before diving into all the political and genealogical details, which I thought was very helpful. A cast list would have been even better, but I eventually felt as though I was able to get a handle on who everyone was. Once I got into it, I enjoyed the complex relationships and politics a lot. I also found the Hawaiian culture and the reactions of explorers to Hawaiian culture very interesting.

As you might have gathered from my summary, there was a lot of action in this book. The revolutions and the stand-offs reminded me of my favorite adventure narrative nonfiction and were my favorite parts of the book. Other parts were a bit dry and read too much like a list of facts for my taste. I suspect that having to keep track of all the many different people in the political sections were a big part of that and again, a cast list would probably have helped with this. Overall, this was a enjoyable read and I learned a lot of fun facts, but it didn’t quite blow me away the way more action-packed narrative nonfiction books have.

This review was originally posted on Doing Dewey.

[Jeff Mauch · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure what prompted me to seek out a history book on Hawaii exactly, but I do feel that in most of the US history books I've read, particularly textbooks, it's nothing more that a blip of when it became a state. The truth is that it goes far deeper than that and is much more interesting. I settled on this book because it seemed to be fairly well reviewed and basically started up with the first contact of native Hawaiians and the Western world. Hawaii was a monarchy with a fascinating culture and caste system. The story of how it went from this to a state in the United States of America is fascinating, sad, and complicated all at once. I found the struggle of the Hawaiian monarchy struggling to decide between their cultural norms and the new idea presented to them by Europeans, Americans, and missionaries to be the most interesting part of the book. It's clear that in the end the monarchy was trying its best to do what would be best for everyone, but it wasn't always so clear what that was. The biggest struggle for me in this book were keeping up with the names of those involved as the native Hawaiian names are complex, yet very similar, and its easy to get lost. Overall this was a very well laid out and informative history of the islands from contact to statehood and it's clearly something that's missing from many high school and college curriculum's as I've never touched any of this before and I have a Bachelor's in History.

[Riley T · Rating 2 out of 5]

Crazy we still let racists write history books. Full of info as long as you can gloss over the white supremacy 🙄🙄🙄 halfway through my reread and i forgot it was like this.

OKAY I JUST FINISHED and he made the moral "hawaiians should be thankful for colonization bc they were savages". I think i didnt leave a review for this last time cause i was so mad. Its SO UNFORTUNATE that he wrote a history book this long with this much research and sat there angry the whole time that his white sensibilities were offended BYE LOL

[Megalion · Rating 5 out of 5]

We all know that Hawaiians had a culture all their own and that it was largely destroyed in the American seizure of Hawaiian territories.

It's a given.

I wanted to know more about pre-US Hawaii. And the lead up to it. James Haley delivers this and more.

In the prologue, he discusses a conversation with a mentor about his plan to write this book. He's already done extensive research and has found some surprising information that doesn't fit the above narrative.
"I was also increasingly surprised and troubled by the pervasive oppression of the common people by their own chiefs and kings before Americans ever showed up. I cited several examples; the professor nodded and allowed that this was indeed the case, but he warned me that if I wrote the book that way and did not “position” the Hawaiians as victims of American racism and exploitation, as he said, it “won’t help you get accepted back into grad school.”
I marinated in this irony for a few moments and said, “This must be what they mean by academic freedom.” Noting my shock, the professor went on to say that race, gender, and exploitation have ruled the scholarly paradigm for thirty years, and are entrenched for probably thirty more."

" Three years of research have chastened me with the sense that virtually nothing in Hawaiian history has a single cause, and virtually no one acted out of a single motivation. It is not a simple history, and it cannot be explained simply, certainly not with recourse to the easy remedies of a previous academic era—native savagery and simplicity—or of the current one—the Anglo sense of hegemony and entitlement. "

Thiss fascinating. In most cases, there are more than one sides to the story, and even if they appear to contradict each other, I believe that many times, they are all mostly true. Haley found and shares many of these "other sides" and pieces together a narrative that seems more inclusive of the various sides and how they saw things.

I think he's found the bigger picture that is closest to the 'truth' of it all that anyone could ask for given the tight control over pre-contact Hawaii history by the a'ali, the chiefs and royalty.
" one Web site promoting Hawaiian tourism writes on its history page that “it is difficult to find an objective Hawaiian history that is accurate and unemotional.”5 My goal with this book is to make that a little less difficult."

An example of startling revelations that cast events in a different light:

Cpt Cook was the British captain that "discovered" Hawaii as far as Europeans were concerned. This is the benchmark point of "contact" as referred to above.

He was aware of the need to keep his sailors from infecting the local women with STDs and also to generally not impede on the native gene pools. He blamed himself for losing control of the sexual interaction and subsequent consequences.

What he didn't know: Japanese ships had been stumbling across Hawaii long before. Via shipwrecks and etc. Syphilis had become an epidemic in Japan about 250 years before and it's likely that 2/3rds of their sailors were infected. The probability that the Hawaiian people were already infected before Cook's men came ashore? Quite high. The actual truth is unknown but clearly some hubris on Cpt Cook's part to assume that his ship was the first encounter the natives had.

Another side to this story, Hawaiians were very progressive in terms of gender roles and equality. And very much in touch with their sexuality. Cpt Cook may have tried to keep his sailors confined to the ships, but that didn't deter the women who were very determined to jump their bones and hopefully get pregnant by them.

They came on board in droves. Performed very erotic and blatantly seductive hulas. And apparently in some cases, gave the sailor no choice in the matter and dragged him into bed. Cook had to concede the matter to the natives.

We can't say for sure who brought syphilis to the islands but seems clear that any sexual predation was in the reverse.

Haley comments at one point that historians are prone to "presentism". Tendency to view the cultures and morals of people hundreds of years ago through today's morals.

It's a safe bet that this is part of what has colored the perception of the island history over the past 200 years.

Haley doesn't try to excuse the travesties that occurred. His goal is to properly identify and source the factors that affected the timeline and events that came to pass.

Another example that illustrates this:
The first time that a Hawaiian king thought about US Annexation, it was an option he was considering pursuing because Britain and France were being bullies and demanding all kinds of "reparations" from the Hawaiians for reasons never quite clear. The king was desperate for a way to back off the two imperialist nations before they tried to seize the islands outright. Proposing that the US annex the islands on a time limited basis was one possible way to do it.

So the first time the issue ever came up of the US annexing the islands, came from the islands themselves. And in direct response to Britain and France. The US was largely indifferent at the time still.

I'll share one more thing that dramatically changed the perspective for me.

The Christian missionaries.

Pre-contact, the natives waged war on each other 8 months of the year. A particularly bloody conflict ended with the survivors escaping to the mainland. They converted to Christianity and became convinced that missionaries were the answer to bringing peace to the islands.

This means that the first big waves of missionaries that came to the islands, did so at the enthusiastic invitations of at least some of the natives.

Here's the part that really got me.

They established schools and began teaching them how to read and write. Hawaiians took to it so strongly that they became the most LITERATE population in the world. And remained so for a long time.

I came away from this book realizing that at least in Hawaii, the missionaries as a whole, were genuinely well intended. Served real purpose. Overall, they did more good than harm. Directly.

Their fundamental mistake... not teaching their own vast broods of children properly. Haley wastes no opportunity to point out that many of the major players in the destruction and domination of Hawaii, were the children and grandchildren of the missionaries.

Haley fills every page with detail. There's no filler content to pad out the page count. If anything, I'm sure he had to cut out parts to keep it under 400 pages (not counting the extensive footnotes and bibliography).

The only criticism I have of this work, he would skip back and forth along the timeline of events. I would read about a monarch's death. But then a little while on, be confused because he's referenced in the present time of the narrative. I wish he would have refrained from describing the passing of key a'lai until the events in the narrative definitively reach the point of their death.

I strongly recommend this book to anyone who has a passing interest in Hawaii's history.

[Ka'Iulani Blankenfeld · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the book was factual and well written it leaned to empathize the non Hawaiian thought and culture, again putting Hawaiians in a negative light. The facts of modern day Hawaiian life are not factual and downright appalling. As a native Hawaiian there are many insults in this book, the worst being the audio readers complete disregard and disrespect of the language. I finished listening to this audio book feeling as if every part of me had been molested. If you publish a boom in any language, the reader must be able to read and represent the language well.

[Frank Theising · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having recently moved to Honolulu, I wanted to read up on Hawaiian history. This was an excellent first book on the subject. The author admits up front that he tried to write an objective history. Quote:

"I was also increasingly surprised and troubled by the pervasive oppression of the common people by their own chiefs and kings before Americans ever showed up. I cited several examples; the professor nodded and allowed that this was indeed the case, but he warned me that if I wrote the book that way and did not “position” the Hawaiians as victims of American racism and exploitation, as he said, it “won’t help you get accepted back into grad school.”
I marinated in this irony for a few moments and said, “This must be what they mean by academic freedom.” Noting my shock, the professor went on to say that race, gender, and exploitation have ruled the scholarly paradigm for thirty years, and are entrenched for probably thirty more."

"Three years of research have chastened me with the sense that virtually nothing in Hawaiian history has a single cause, and virtually no one acted out of a single motivation. It is not a simple history, and it cannot be explained simply, certainly not with recourse to the easy remedies of a previous academic era—native savagery and simplicity—or of the current one—the Anglo sense of hegemony and entitlement."

As a consequence of this approach, the faults of all sides are laid bare and hardly anybody escapes with their reputation intact. The romantic narrative of Hawaiian unification is shown for the bloody conquest it was. The innocent sexual liberty of the natives is shown alongside the savagery of human sacrifice, inbreeding, and oppression. The Christian missionaries come off as stodgy, culturally illiterate, and unsuited to the task before them. And Hawaii’s status as a pawn in an era of colonial / imperial / geopolitical competition reveal the US and the European powers as unprincipled and devious in their scramble for power.

He notes that bringing Hawaii into the US fold was a century long process, beginning with Americanization of the culture in the 1820s, followed by outsized US influence over the Hawaiian economy by mid-century. As he states above, this is a messy story without any single cause for the way things unfolded. All parties (Hawaiian, US, British) had their own internal competing interests that make it impossible for their decisions to fit neatly into any single narrative. Really good and informative account of Hawaiian history.


What follows are my notes on the book:


Captain Cook “discovered” and named the Sandwich Islands in 1778. They traded heavily, the natives particularly interested in iron. The native women were aggressive and enthusiastic in their attempts to mate with the men. This potentially introduced syphilis into Hawaii (this is speculative, shipwrecked Japanese may have introduced it later).

After failing to find a Northwest Passage, his ship entered Kealakekua Bay during an annual festival. The natives believed this the prophesied return of one of their gods. However, when the ship’s mast broke and they returned for repairs, familiarity bread contempt and a skirmish resulted in Cook’s death.

Kamehameha was a youth during Cook’s visit, raised in the royal court of his uncle. Upon the king’s death, he clashed with the heir to the throne. With support of many chiefs in the Kona district, he seized control of the big island. While he was a skilled fighter, he needed iron weapons to conquer the other islands.

Americans on the ship Fair American massacred natives after one of their men was killed in retaliation for striking a chief. When they put back into port, Kamehameha slaughtered the crew and seized their weapons. He also captured two Englishmen Isaac Davis and John Young who trained his men on how to use Western weapons.

After a decade of failure, Kamehameha continued his assault on neighboring islands. On Maui, the Ali’i (royal chiefs) fled to Molokai. They secured peace by offering 12-year-old Keōpūolani (who possessed higher ranking than anybody else in her era) as a wife. This belief in “mana,” a sort of spiritual power obtained from chiefly descent or from victory in battle. The marriage solidified his rule over Maui. She had 12 sons, 4 by Kamehameha (outranking him, she was free to take other lovers). Their children would have higher mana than he, forcing him to disrobe in the presence of his own young children in accordance with their religion.

While away, an uprising on the big island ended when a volcano killed the rebels. Kamehameha invited Keoua, son of the deposed king to the big island and then killed him upon landing ashore. His body was offered as a sacrifice to the war god and he became the undisputed king of the big island.

In his assault on Oahu, he drove over 400 enemy soldiers (800 by some estimates) off a cliff in the battle of Nu’uanu Pali. While Hawaiians today romanticize Kamehameha (his name is everywhere here from highways to schools), the people of Oahu despised his conquest. Kauai & Niihau remained outside his control. The Ali’i of those islands sought protection from the Russians, but nothing came of this and Kamehameha acquired the last two islands by diplomacy and trade.

The US sought a monopoly on the sandalwood trade with China. However the king gave it to the UK, whose naval supremacy disrupted US ships during the War of 1812. The king got greedy and shifted peasants from farming to harvesting wood. As sandalwood and food grew scarce, he reversed his policies.

After decades of bloody conquest Kamehameha ruled for 9 years until his death. His son Liholiho became Kamehameha II (K2), however K1’s favorite wife Ka’ahumanu co-ruled as Regent. The king and regent overthrew the Kapu religious system and suppressed a rebellion by the Kahuna (priests).

There were 11 waves of Congregationalist missionaries. In the absence of a new religious order, the missionaries were allowed to stay.

K2 went into debt to purchase a western-style ship. He sailed to London where he died from the measles. The queen mother (Keōpūolani) had a devout conversion before her death. Ka’ahumanu also converted and encouraged her subjects to also, viewing Christianity as superior to Kapu that subjugated women. High Chiefess Kapi’olani also converted and made a spectacle at a volcano where she defied the fire goddess Pele and came out unscathed (used to great effect by the missionaries).

Under Calvinist missionary influence, the queen regent banned the hula (a highly sexual dance), striking at Hawaiian culture. When K2 died, his younger brother Kauikeaouli became Kamehameha III (K3). He chafed under his mother’s (and missionaries’) oppressive leadership. The strict Calvinist missionaries had a rough time with sexual mores of the Hawaiians. Sex was free and frequent. Sodomy was a routine part of royal life. Children were encouraged to explore sex early. The young king clashed with the missionaries when he attempted to marry his sister. They had a child who died. His sister/wife died and K3 was shattered. After centuries of inbreeding, their dynasty was collapsing and the childless king began to search for a successor.

The missionaries’ printing press and schools led to one of the highest literacy rates in the world. They taught the Ali’i well enough to hold their own with the royal courts of Europe, but utterly failed to genuinely convert the entitled youth.

Most western crops were not popular or profitable but by the 1830s sugar plantations were turning a profit. Coffee also took root.

After a perceived slight by the king, British Captain George Paulet threaten to fire on Honolulu. K3 ceded the islands to the UK and appealed to Queen Victoria. Admiral Richard Thomas, commander of the Pacific Fleet arrived, negated the session, restored all rights to Hawaiians, and overturned the fraudulent legal cases imposed by Paulett.

In the US, K3 threatened to become a British protectorate unless they recognized his sovereignty. President Tyler didn’t recognize Hawaii but extended the Monroe Doctrine over Hawaii. In 1843 England and France jointly recognized Hawaiian sovereignty.

K3 felt that the “haoles” would treat their laws as mere customs unless they were codified. With a small talent pool, K3 sought help from the American missionaries. In 1840 he issued a Constitution. K3 created a modern government, including a treasury. Land reform established private ownership, freeing peasants from local chiefs with unintended consequences. The passage of an Alien Land Ownership Act lead to a flood a foreign capital just as commoners had land to sell. Tragically, many Hawaiians sold the land they depended on.

In 1848, French war ships twice invaded Hawaii (in retaliation for discrimination against Catholics). Remembering Tyler’s promise to defend the Hawaiian Islands, K3 considered becoming an American protectorate. New President Millard Fillmore reaffirmed the decision to keep HI from falling to a European power, but stated the US had no territorial ambitions in the Hawaii.

With California so close, disease spread faster than ever before. Whooping cough & influenza killed roughly a 10th of the population.

As the ABCFM ended its presence in HI, missionaries were forced to become self-sufficient in order to carry on their work. Many created plantations and trading companies. Many popular works suggested missionaries got greedy, however their move to business was driven by money from New England being cut off.

Alexander Liholiho (K4) ascended to the throne at age 20. He had a strong distaste for Americans, in part because of his treatment on a DC train ride as a “colored man.” He sought to ensure Hawaii’s independence after his father almost annexed it to the US. He married Emma. The young prince was the joy of the nation. After hearing rumors that his British advisor had a liaison with his wife, he shot him point-blank. The allegation was false and K4 almost abdicated. This scandal and the death of his son led him to religion. He despised the Calvinists but enjoyed Anglicanism. He sent for an Anglican minister to establish a church in Hawaii.

K4 died (asthma) at 29. Emma traveled to Europe. His brother Lot ascended to the throne (K5). He created a new constitution that restored royal prerogatives. During the Civil War Hawaiian sugar prices tripled. While officially neutral, many Hawaiians served in both the Union and Confederate armies.

In the 1860s leprosy invaded the islands. A leper colony was created on Molokai.

Whites and natives shunned plantation work, so plantations imported Japanese and Chinese coolies. This altered the ethnic makeup of the islands forever.

K5 died childless. His sister Victoria Kamamalu, was also childless (a result of internal family power struggles). The two most likely successors were Lunalilo & Kalakaua. Lunalilo insisted on a plebiscite and won so overwhelmingly, the legislature rubber stamped the decision.

While K5 pushed monarchy, Lunalilo added democratic elements to the constitution. He died after a year of tuberculosis. Kalakaua engineered for the legislature to pick the next monarch without a plebiscite (Emma was too popular for him to win). Kalakaua, got the throne but the decision led to widespread rioting.

Kalakaua proved a good king at first. He secured a reciprocity treaty for sugar to enter the US duty-free. He traveled to Japan and China winning concessions on immigration and deportation of coolies. His travels to Europe were less successful. He built the Iolani Palace.

As with any dynasty, there were internal feuds, even among the women: Emma, Miriam Likelike, and Ruth Ke’elikolani. Ruth was a defender of Hawaiian tradition and arguably had the strongest blood claim to the throne, so they conspired to strip her of her title. She retained her extensive land holdings and refused to support Kalakaua which drove him into the arms of the sugar barons, setting up the circumstances for the bayonet constitution of 1887.

To renew the reciprocity treaty, he agreed to lease Pearl Harbor to US for 8 years. Senator William McKinley passed a 2 cent bounty on domestic sugar production, undermining the reciprocity treaty. Kalakaua’s diminishing success spawned the creation of annexationist groups (Hawaiian League and the Honolulu Rifles). These groups grew bolder, meeting in public and working to replace members of the Cabinet. A bloodless coup occurred during which the king was forced to sign the Bayonet Constitution giving veto power to the legislature.

A few years later he died and Queen Lili’uokalani (Lili’u) inherited the throne. She tried to dismiss the cabinet but couldn’t under the constitution. She moved to create a new constitution that restored royal power and voting rights to natives. Her aggressive actions led to an open rift with the plantations. William Thurston obtained assurances the Harrison Administration would look favorably on annexation. He compelled the cabinet not to sign the new constitution. A committee of safety was created and appealed to the marines aboard the USS Boston to protect American property & lives from (grossly exaggerated claims of) imminent danger. They seized Honolulu. Despite having twice as many soldiers, Lili’u did not want bloodshed on her soul. Sanford Dole pressed her to abdicate. Instead she ceded Hawaii do the US government where she could appeal her case (like K3 did with the British). Harrison only had days left in office.

New president Grover Cleveland sent a commission to Hawaii to investigate. Representative Blunt of Georgia did it fair and honest assessment, interviewing all comers. Cleveland wanted to restore Hawaii and asked if Lili’u would grant an amnesty but she refused. This proved a blunder as Cleveland deferred the issue to Congress. Cleveland tried asked Americans in Hawaii to stand down but they refused. They provoked US intervention to protect American interest. Now they claimed they were an independent republic and the US had no jurisdiction here. It was a fait accompli.

In writing a new constitution, Dole created the appearance of popular support while restricting the vote to whites (provisions for natural born citizens and property requirements excluded most coolies and natives). The world powers recognized the Republic of Hawaii. The queen’s supporters started a counter coup but were captured. The queen was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to five years hard labor (more like house arrest).

Hawaiians gathered 500+ pages of signatures protesting annexation. Congress leaned against annexation. Two weeks later the USS Maine exploded in Havana, beginning Spanish American War. As a strategic asset in the Pacific, annexation became a patriotic duty. HI was annexed by a simple majority joint resolution (like Texas). Queen Lili’u died in 1917. Nativist efforts to restore the monarchy persist to this day but are fractured by dozens of competing claims/groups.

[Matija · Rating 3 out of 5]

In keeping up with my tradition of reading a little bit about every place I visit, I picked up this narrative history of the Hawaiian Islands in the Ala Moana bookstore in Honolulu. It had been released a few days earlier, so it was practically fresh off the presses.

I'm not sure what exactly qualifies Mr. James L. Haley as very suitable for the daunting task of writing down Hawaii's history. I'm pretty certain the moniker "independent scholar", touted on the cover, means that he's not a trained historian, however, I have to admit he does a reasonably good job of it. Particularly to be commended are his impartial ways, as he refuses to fall prone to several common traps, such as judging 19th century people from 21st century perspective and white-washing either the (often brutal) pre-contact Hawaiian culture or else the latter American, European and Asian influence. He also avoids putting important historical figures, such as Kamehameha the Conqueror or the last queen, Lili'uokalani, on pedestals and is in fact possibly more critical of them than the Hawaiians would be.

Naturally, the narrative starts with Captain Cook's "discovery" of the islands, his exploration of the archipelago and his eventual death on the Big Island. I was hoping for a bit more info on how life was like before European contact, but since the Polynesians never discovered writing, not much is known anyway, especially not about the first settlers who had been later conquered by Tahitian immigrants.

What follows is the description of Kamehameha's conquest of the entire island chain. I find this part to be possibly the least satisfactory one in the whole book. Not only do I feel that not enough ink was spent on such a crucially important persona as Kamehameha the Conqueror, but all the bloody battles fought to achieve the conquest are more mentioned than described. It is rather disappointing to have them listed in a factual way rather than having them pictured in one's mind, as it would be really interesting to see how the Hawaiians waged war and how the introduction of western-made weaponry and tactics had changed it all.

There's a couple more criticisms that could be leveled at Captive Paradise, such as too liberal use of footnotes (which reside in the back of the book, necessitating a lot of back-and-forth paging) and the dispatching of whole scores of years of Hawaiian history in a few paragraphs (particularly the post-annexation years - for example, the devastating tsunami of 1946 is not even mentioned and the attack on Pearl Harbor only in passing), but in the end I think the author achieves what he set out to do - provide a non-judgmental, non-biased overview of Hawaiian history. It falls short of literary greatness due to dry descriptions of historical figures and some important events, but that was probably never its goal, since it leans more towards academic narrative.

[Annkathrin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Haley presents this as an unbiased account, but it came across very differently and I was surprised at this claim when actually reading the book.

He frequently sneers that people mustn't judge historic actions of missionaries and colonisers through modern lenses, but then constantly uses the dated, "savage" practices and sexual "licentiousness" of native Hawaiian people as justification for the actions of those missionaries – what happened to not judging people by modern standards? It is possible to recognise that human sacrifice, capital punishment, incest, and sex with minors are entirely unacceptable practices regardless of time period, while at the same time allowing that storytelling dances like hula, sexual liberation between adults, and non-christian religious beliefs are valid cultural elements, rather than bunching everything together as evidence for the need of foreign 'civilising' efforts. He also seems to base his arguments on the idea that if it hadn't been for the forceful external influence of foreigners arriving in Hawai'i and imposing their moral, religious, and economic frameworks on the islands, that Hawaiian society would still be built on a feudal, violent, chief-led system today.
It doesn't seem to have occurred to him that a society can develop and move away from inhumane practices in its own ways, and potentially through a more equal and mutualistic form of interaction with the wider world, without imperialism and Christian white supremacy.

He scoffs at modern scholarship's recognition of the importance of acknowledging gender, indigeneity, and local culture as lenses through which to understand historic decisions and motivations, and throughout the book his tone is patronising towards Hawaiians at best. He treats the development of Hawai'i's land in the name of economic progress as a foregone conclusion and blames the decisions of the country's native leaders for the annexation, rather the actions of the Americans who plotted it.

The narrative sometimes jumped around between different people and times, which made it a little harder to follow.

I gave it two stars because I still learned something, but I really struggled through it and think the author should probably recognise that his own life experiences, moral and personal perspectives mean this is very far from a truly impartial account.

[MBJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not Quite Captivating but a Well Presented History - "That Hawaii would one day end up a possession of an imperial power seems inevitable." Thus concludes James L. Haley in Captive Paradise: A History of Hawaii. Hawaii was a pawn in an era of shifting global power, a central theme of Haley's book. He discloses upfront and unapologetically his intent to present Hawaii's saga with objectivity, no easy feat given the controversial nature of his subject.

Haley opines that there was a time when political correctness meant telling the Hawaii story as one of America's greatness, rationalizing the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands in paternalistic terms. More recently, the trend has been to focus on the plight of Hawaiian natives, condemning the exploitative behavior of imperialists.

Haley argues convincingly that reality lies somewhere in between these two perspectives. Before the arrival of the imperialistic powers, native chiefs and kings at times inflicted unspeakable horrors on the common people; in the imperialistic era, European powers, and later Americans opportunists, exploited the simple and trusting people of Hawaii in a power struggle that ended with American domination.

Haley captures the breadth of this complicated and troubled history in a seemingly balanced manner. His writing is a bit dry, but his facts are well researched and presented. The book is slow to engage the reader, perhaps in part because the names of people and places are so dissonant to most of us. But eventually Captive Paradise does engage. For anyone interested in more than the stunning beauty of Hawaii and its storied beaches, I recommend persevering and reading Haley's book through the final chapter. It will not disappoint.

[Barry Sierer · Rating 4 out of 5]

While it is clear that Haley’s book covers the history of the Islands from the reign of Kamehameha to their annexation by the United States, (including the amazing, sometimes foolish, and arrogant decisions of all parties involved), I was surprised to find out how dramatically the US struggled internally with the actual annexation that occurred well after the US backed seizure of the Islands.

[lyette a adams · Rating 1 out of 5]

Complete and total ethnocentric white Christian bullshit. Painting captain cook as a kind gentle man who just struggled so much with the Hawaiian women seducing and forcing his men to sleep with them … it was them who spread disease and whined when their symptoms worsened after infecting the Hawaiian women they took advantage of. I can’t even with the ridiculous insulting AND SUPER BORING AND INNACURRATE garbage. Christian Right white supremist American flag waiving bull.

[Dorinda · Rating 1 out of 5]

I want to know this material and it is interesting history and yet this author wrote in such a way I could not bear to struggle though another sentence after page 60

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Since we’re heading to Hawai’i, I figured I should learn more about Hawaiian history since I knew very little.

It was hard to find a non biased (just the facts)history book written by a Hawaiian person.I have learned that their culture didn’t approve of sharing the history in a written form. They only wanted native Hawaiians to hear to the stories of the past verbally. So this book is written by a non-Hawai’ian, which is not ideal but all I could find on audible.


Because of this book I am by no means an expert in Hawaiian history now but I have a better grasp on what has happened in the last 300ish years since Hawai’i was found and people starting writing things down about it.

It’s culture was very unique and wondrous to the rest of the world. Unlike anything else. I’m sure I will dig into more over the next few years but according to this book, Hawaiians were welcoming when James Cooke landed on the island in 1700 something.

The next few hundred years were up and downs of Hawaii trying to establish a government in order to trade, communicate and become a part of the larger evolving world. They struggled amongst their own people and view of nobility and also their laid back lifestyle which didn’t fit with the rest of the world. They were amused with technology around the world and tried to capture it while also trying to stay true to their culture. It didn’t really work.
As in anything, times change and people have to move with it. This was hard for Hawai’i. As in history’s everywhere (and will happen in man kind forever) lesser populations get swallowed by larger ones.

As Hawai’i rolled into the 20th century, they flailed in maintaining themselves as a country and working with but not too closely with Japan, the US, China and even England. No one knew where Hawai’i belonged. They did not have a population to create a standing army to defend itself and needed protection from a larger country. With its strategic war location and sugar crops but not many natives to work, Hawai’i government was pretty lost as they still has royalty but trying to create a democracy was not going well.

So, the US annexed Hawai’i and then it became a state in the 1950s. Was some of the Hawaiian culture beaten down and lost? Yes. Is that sad and heartbreaking? Yes.

But also I look at situations like this and often think. What would have been a better solution? I mean would it be ideal if everyone leaves everyone else alone and let’s then live in peace in their own way? Sure. But that’s not real life. Hawaii is a small
Group of islands that was very vulnerable on its own once the world became smaller and it was no longer able to be left all by itself once the modern world started making its mark.

While I am not defending the US in all
It’s maneuvers with Hawai’i ( no do I know them all), it’s just times rolling on and ways of life changing and adapting. Hawaii never could have been what it was in the 1600s and before because the world is just not like that anymore…

[Leah K · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've always had trouble with names due to my Dyslexia. Anything I perceive as unusual or if there's a lot of names - you've lost me. And there were A LOT of names in this...a lot lot...and they all looked/sounded the same for me thanks to dyslexia. So my lower rating has more to do with that than the actual writing and info. This book focuses on early Hawaiian history - before it was integrated into the US in 1959. There was a lot of great info and history.

[Lucas Gibson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve answered the age old question of if you could go back in time where would you go. The discovery of Hawaii was basically a rum fueled booze cruise around the world and at the end was a tropical paradise, filled with thicc, horny women, where you got to play God for a day. Treatment of the natives makes it feel wrong, but 3 out of 5 spice for a history book.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I must know the history of a place before I arrive, or traveling just doesn’t make sense to me. This was a great breakdown of the history of Hawaii. 3 more days!!

[Raymond Chen · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5.
A little long, and it took me a while to get through this book but an interesting and worthwhile read if you're interested about this topic. I think Haley presents a pretty well-rounded and fair argument on the morality and ethics surrounding Hawaii's history.

[Andy Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a well written, lively history of Hawaii from when Captain Cook landed there to its controversial annexation by the United States. The author, James Haley, offers a more nuanced and in some ways revisionist view of Hawaii's history during this time. Haley contrasts a common view that Kamehamcha "unified" the islands with a detailed account of a "brutal conquest" of the other islands with the help of guns he obtained from English and Americans with technical advice from captive western sailors who were rewarded with their efforts. Haley also describes Kamehamcha luring enemies to peace meetings only to kill and sacrifice them to his gods. The brutality of these wars included killing all family members of enemies, leading some to swim to western ships to escape certain death because of a family relationship

One of the escapees settled in New England and eventually wanted to return to Hawaii and teach his newfound Christianity. While he died before he was able to return, he did inspire a missionary movement to Hawaii. Again, Haley offers a balanced view, he recounts their paternalism, their rigid life seemingly devoid of joy, their harsh judgment of aspects of native culture but also noted good intent, a relative lack of racism(Hawaiins who later traveled to the United States were often treated cruelly because of their dark skin, something that they said they had not experienced with the white missionaries in Hawaii) and worked to end some clearly evil aspects of native life such as human sacrifice and infanticide.

Haley describes the increasing contact with the western world based on demand for a certain wood from the islands and its usefulness as a port for whalers and traders. England and France both used gunboat diplomacy at various times to try to force submission but skillful negotiations and friendship with the United States which did not use force at that time averted domination and planted the seeds of an American/ Hawaii friendship. The western influences continued to wreak havoc with Hawaiin culture and economy and lead to the development of the sugar industry which changed history. Haley describes this from a Hawaii point of view and details how some Hawaii leaders had success in protecting and enhancing the lives of their people and how some utterly failed. The controversies of the various successions are thoroughly discussed and I was left wondering that if Hawaii had been more democratic and not so dependent on royal succession it would have been better able to resist the later domination.

Haley's nuanced view continues with the events leading to annexation. Sugar planters and other westerners did conspire to "overthrow" Hawaii rule, constitutions were forced on Hawaii after Americans sent marines into town to show force. However, the United States under Grover Cleveland investigated these events and found that the American navy based in Hawaii exceeded its authority and the request for annexation was due to force and against Hawaii will. The United States at the time even replaced American flags with native flags, recalled the Ambassador who was involved in the force and reprimanded the naval officers. However, the length of communication and initial representations by the Queen that she would execute Americans (which while soon recanted was too late in reaching United States(who had been involved in the plot lessened American sympathy. That lack of sympathy was increased when the Democrat Cleveland was replaced by Republican William McKinley who had more of a world wide interventionist or imperial view. Still, Ka'iulani's and others trip to Washington DC and a sense of fair play by many in the United States lead the Senate to actually defeat annexation. However, McKinley changed course and annexed Hawaii as a terrority which only required a majority

One reservation I had in reading this was when Haley's history of Hawaii intersected with American reconstruction. Haley expressed largely discredited views of reconstruction and it made me suspect aspects of his somewhat "revisionist" history of Hawaii, but this does not change the fact that this was a well researched, lively written and thought provoking history

[Malia · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did NOT finish this book, but the only way to add commentary was to indicate that I had so that is my first disclaimer. My second is that I am not an expert in Hawaiian history, hence my desire to read more about my people. That said, I could not stomach going beyond the first couple of chapters because of the way the author wrote about the Hawaiian people - referring to them as savages, thieving and unintelligent people (until they were taught better), promiscuous and desperate to mate with the superior race (the white man), immoral (thank goodness for the missionaries who came to correct their ways), etc. It made me sick to my stomach. The author also spoke about Capt. James Cook in a reverenced tone, being sure to point out that Cook was faithful to his wife and felt really sorry about bringing diseases to the islands but that it probably wasn’t his crew’s fault because the Polynesian women were so promiscuous that they had most likely gotten diseases from other explorers. In the end, it was awful and I couldn’t finish it. Whether or not this author is a scholar, the lens through which he writes is clearly Eurocentric, white, male. To me, if you truly wished to give an historical account of a native people and their lands you would also bring in the voices of Native Hawaiian scholars and would treat the land and the people with respect with your writing. He did not do this. Don’t read it, don’t buy it. Not worth your time or money.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Required reading for anyone who may want to retire in Hawaii. Very interesting history

[carl theaker · Rating 5 out of 5]

A captivating look at the history of probably the most well known and remote islands in the world. The real estate folks tell us it’s all about location and the Sandwich Islands, Hawaii’s earliest European name, had it as a strategic crossroads in the vastness of the Pacific.

The early visits to the islands by explorers, whalers and later missionaries cause fascinating twists and turns in the evolution of the native culture that have you wondering ‘if only’ this or that decision had been made. The Polynesian culture was a highly sexual one, the hula an erotic, welcoming dance, and the early Europeans were viewed as desirable rock stars. Ship captains struggled to keep their crews ! (The later infamous Captain Bligh served on Captain James Cook discovery ship).

For tourist reasons, there is a sanitized history of the good old days presented to keep the lure of the islands in the imagination of visitors. Author Haley even handedly corrects that notion, pre-European Hawaii was a feudal world where royalty ruled with a brutal hand of terror, human sacrifice and a custom of infanticide.

The missionaries, requested by Hawaiians, arrived at a timely moment when the islanders had tossed aside the old repressive ways, and were looking for new. What an effect they had on the course of the culture.

As the world’s various powers angled to control the islands, Hawaii became addicted to a certain white powder, sugar, which became its economic power, but also an unbreakable, in good and bad ways, web-like connection to the United States.

If one could say Haley exposes the early days of Hawaii, he is no less thorough on the eventual annexation by the United States in what amounts to a coup. The whole episode also has its in and outs with the Hawaiian Queen missing some opportunities to keep her country at an arm’s length. One wonders how long Hawaii could have stayed independent?

——
Author Haley gave a talk at a local Kiwanis meeting. He was an enthusiastic speaker, and certainly has a passion for his subject. He told us certain factions in Hawaii were not happy with his tell-it-like-it-was style. Not often I buy hardback books, but with the chance to get a signed copy and showing appreciation for his talk, I did, and hardcovers do have an extra readable feel to them. This one has a beautiful cover with raised letters. I’m putting his ‘Passion Nation: The Epic History of Texas’ on the ‘to read list’.

[Riley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very sad. But it tells of flaws on all sides which makes it sound more like real history. There are certainly missing parts...it essentially ends with annexation and only poorly covers the impact of Chinese and Japanese immigrants which is more of a 20th century tale I suppose. But it caught the first Mormon settlement (while ignoring the second which is now a major part of O'ahu). Pretty good history of the monarchy.

[Kari Heggen (checkedoutbooks) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very very in-depth study of Hawaii's history pre-contact with the West and post. This is my second non-fiction book on the subject of Hawaii but this focused a lot more on the politics than anything else which is not my favorite topic to read about. It was impossible for me to keep track of who anyone was with the thousands of names put into this book. I learned a lot but this was pretty dry and dense especially the later half.

[Shawn Thrasher · Rating 3 out of 5]

I re-read Hawaii and decided to see if I could find a nonfiction book to back up Michener's research, and that I did. The first half is really good; the second half starts to slog. Michener's characters seem more lifelike that the real people Haley writes about. If you are going to Hawaii, start with Michener, not here.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great, even-handed history of Hawaii, that covers a period of hundreds of years in four hundred pages. One of the better histories I've read on any subject.

[Prima Seadiva · Rating 3 out of 5]

More like 2.5 stars.
Audiobook. Reader pretty good.
I found this book to be a bit of a trudge. Way more repetitive in detail than I liked. It has the common downfall of many non-fiction audiobooks, no available footnotes, no table of contents, hard to browse around other chapters.
I did find the overall viewpoint somewhat interesting as both the native and western influences had plenty of positive and negative attributes.Some more contemporary history after annexation would be interesting but this book ends at that point in time.
I knew next to nothing about Hawaii except from a few friends who have lived there years ago and except for one person all liked it. Now I know a bit more.
I have never been there and am unlikely to visit.