Customer Reviews

A Military History of Sovereign Hawaii

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I recently picked this book up while visiting Hawaii. It is very interesting and it is nice to learn about such new additions to Hawaiian history are becoming available. Dukas makes an excellent presentation of Hawaii's military past from its days before Kamehameha the Great's Unification of the islands, through the troubled years of the Kingdom and ending in brief years of the Republic. Extensive bibliography. Hopefully this will be the first of many historical works that will shed more light onto the years of the Kingdom of Hawaii and show it in a far more positive light than critics continue to portray it.

The military history of Hawaii can be very telling reading and the author has, in this case, done a very good job of it. Hawaii was united as a kingdom in the early 19th century and then tried to transform itself from a country reliant upon a warrior caste armed with traditional stabbing and cutting weapons to a modern volunteer military force armed with firearms. The difficulties involved in establishing and maintaining military units, the internal politics of Hawaii and the archipeligo's strategic desirability amongst the great powers were all factors in what did and did not happen with Hawaii's military.

A very good read.

Neil Dukas wrote this excellent book on the military history of Kingdom of Hawaii. The book goes back to the warrior culture of old Hawaii, to it unification as a singular kingdom and its slow but steady decline. The book is an excellent study on why the Kingdom of Hawaii fell in the end and how.

The book is well written, well researched and highly readable. It short enough that it doesn't bore you with detail but yet long enough to provide excellent information. The book comes with interesting photographs and illustrations as well. The book clearly pointed out that the downfall of the warrior caste is directly linked to the lack of military power of the kingdom and their inability to defend themselves. This inability also allowed influx of whites into the kingdom who hold greater loyalty to the United States and her interests then to Hawaii. This above all else, led to the kingdom's fall. Interestingly, is the failure of the Asian population of Hawaii to come to aid of the monarchy. Also interesting is that many native Hawaiians supported the Republicans who overthrew the monarchy in the end.

When I finished reading this book, I felt that Kingdom of Hawaii was lost mainly due to the "lack of guts". The kingdom folded their hands too quick, too often and without much foresight during their short history. They forgot that liberty, self-determination and independence are forge in blood of its defenders, not at the mercy of their oppressors.