Customer Reviews

Grapes of Canaan: Hawaii 1820

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read the Memoirs of Henry Obookiah first and then get this book. Great way to understand the Christian heritage of Hawaii.

One of the best books I've read on the Missionary era in Hawaii, newly republished by the Mission Houses Museum, Honolulu, Albertine Loomis' Grapes of Caanan shows how the Islands' society was rapidly changing and disintegrating after a civil war and the end of the onerous tabu system. Into this chaos came New England missionaries, peddling a stern form of Christianity but a gentle, dedicated care for the Hawaiian people. Their individual sorrows and struggles, especially but not exclusively difficult for the women, draw readers into the core of their efforts. This was heightened by resistance from Western traders already established on the Islands who wanted nothing better than to remove resources, especially sandalwood, and undermine the native culture through alcohol and promiscuity. The native people themselves often had trouble deciding which Westerners to trust, but eventually many of their leaders fell in love with reading, which the missionaries thoroughly supported. Perhaps more than any other gifts to the Islands, the missionaries offered reading in the Hawaiian language and guidance in political resistance to Western powers and traders who wanted to co-opt the native government. A bit too much business history for my taste; otherwise a page-turner.

This is an excellent, well written book covering the history of missions in Hawaii. It deals with the trials and triumphs of the haoles as they came to bring Christ to the island.