Customer Reviews

Exalted Sits the Chief

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Mr. Cordy does an excellent job of providing an overview of the history of the island of Hawaii. He does this will a rich blend of written and oral historical, and archaeological data. I especially enjoyed the way that the author compared and contrasted various reported historical accounts to leave the reader with the most likely version of what actually happened. The background information on climatic and agricultural characteristics of the island provided much insight into the historical information.

I only wish I had read the book prior to visiting Hawaii, rather than once I returned, as it provides historical significance to the famous as well as not-so-well-known places on the Big Island.

Reading this book made me want to find and enroll in the next archaeology dig on the Big Island.

This is a critical book which identifies the often confused history and genealogies of Hawaii and seeks to sort it into a more factual view. As is the case with other Polynesian and world indigenous cultures, the impacts of European arrival brought much disease devastation and disruption as well as cultural upheaval but there were also prior "revisionist" chronicles which sought to establish supremacy of chiefly lines which had a more modest history in fact. Cordy's book is one of the best written available, is highly readable and interesting factually and yet based on solid research foundations. Highly recommended.

I was so happy to find this book. It pulls together all of the oldest chronicles written by Hawaiians educated by missionaries and the newest archeological findings of modern scientists into one cohesive, comprehensive whole. As a student of Hawaiian history, I have run into many contradictions in accounts of incidents many of which are based upon oral traditions. This thoroughly researched, well organized, easy to understand compilation of records old and new made me feel that I had finally arrived upon the truth of the Hawaiian culture. Cordy is a professional archeologist-historian with over 30 years of experience in Hawai'i. I am grateful to him for his extensive research. I just wished I had discovered this book while writing my novel Wai-nani, High Chiefess of Hawai'i. It would have saved me countless hours of research. Photos and diagrams throughout the text help to locate historical sites on Hawai'i that are easily accessed by visitors today.
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