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Lost Kingdom: Hawaii's Last Queen, The Sugar Kings And America's First Imperial Adventure (2012)

by Julia Flynn Siler(Favorite Author)

3.53 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0802120016 (ISBN13: 9780802120014)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Atlantic Monthly Press

review 1: The facts surrounding the decline of Hawaii's monarchy and the forced abdication of Queen Lili’uokalani are sad, embarrassing (for the U.S.), and important to learn. Lili'uokalani's story alone would have made a good book, but the attempted addition of the sugar baron angle as a separate story line didn't work well. The writing in this book lacks sparkle and felt at times like a slog through the facts of history, rather than bringing history to life.
review 2: Wonderful tale of Hawaii's interaction with the outside world, first by Captain Cook who was killed for shooting a Hawaiian and called by the outsiders the Sandwich Islands to the deposition of a queen and annexation by the United States of America. Missionaries from the the US and Britain were most in... morefluential and anxiety was always present when one country seemed to get more influence than the other. Diseases brought by outsiders deciminated the native people and it was common to intermarry in a short period of time. King Kamehameha I fought a war to become the ruler of all the islands about 1830 and it became a monarchy favoring Britain. Life expectancy was short and even kings came and went quickly, diseases caused infertility and the royal family had trouble with offspring. Finally, Lilu'i's family fought for the throne against the Kamehameha family. He favored the US and was generally a poor leader putting himself into an American businessmen's debt. When Lilu'i took the throne as queen she sought to curtail American business rights and keep citizenship to birth and naturalization. This would disenfranchise some residents who had been voting and enfranchise millions of Chinese and Japanese who had brought over for work who were basically used as slaves. The American businessmen took it in their hands to stage a coup. While the US government vacillated between what they saw as right and wrong, they never dared to take military actions against the Americans who held Hawaii. Republicans were strongly for annexation, Democrats felt Hawaii was wronged, but a Republican administration went to war with Spain, it needed Hawaii as an essential port for war, Hawaii was annexed. This is a great story for a great state and the Hawaiian people haven't gotten the recognition they deserve. less

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