Island World: A History of Hawai'i and the United States (California World History Library) (Hardcover)

by Gary Y. Okihiro (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
In the first volume of a projected trilogy, Okihiro, professor of international and public affairs at Columbia, largely succeeds in a radical approach to historiography as applied to Hawaii. He defies the standard linear progression and view of humans as subjects with volition without regard for the agencies of other life-forms.... Okihiro combines human history, natural history and mythic Hawaiian folklore with interpretations of how Hawaiian cultural artifacts (such as surfboards) infiltrated American culture and vice versa. He likewise depicts the lives of Hawaiians who wound up in North America, either by choice or involuntarily. In young islanders taken to be Westernized at special schools, Okihiro sees a parallel to similar cultural cleansing (or schooling for subservience) of Native Americans. He also narrates the slow decimation of the rich and varied Hawaiian musical tradition reduced to clichés, à la Don Ho. Thus, Okihiro places the story of Hawaii in direct and constant relation to the story of the United States. Some readers may find this eclectic mix of facts hard to follow and synthesize, but all will come away intrigued and enlightened. 57 b&w photos, 6 maps. (Sept.)
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From Booklist
No man is an island, and apparently no island is, either. Okihiro’s concise yet far-reaching cultural history of the Hawaiian Islands traces the vast influence the archipelago has exerted on the world from the dawn of geologic time to the present. As migrations of cultures settled on and embarked from the islands, the fragile balance of human and environmental ecology was impacted in ways both minuscule and monumental. Rather than a chronological unfolding of events in sequence, however, Okihiro places essential elements of Hawaii’s formation and development in context, chronicling how such diverse phenomena as warfare and religion, education and surfing, monarchies and music were affected by dominant world events. From the discovery of Eastern trade routes to the advent of motion pictures to the repercussions of the Civil War and the influx of leisure-class travel, Okihiro relates Hawaii’s past by profiling a diverse cast of characters whose guidance and direction forever altered the way the world would view these geographically remote islands vis-a-vis the community of nations. Ed: s/b vis-à-vis (w/ accent), but have Production add it. --Carol Haggas

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 328 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (August 11, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520252993
• ISBN-13: 978-0520252998
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: No customer reviews yet. Be the first.
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #443,535 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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