Unfamiliar Fishes [Hardcover]

Sarah Vowell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 22, 2011

From the bestselling author of The Wordy Shipmates, comes an examination of Hawaii, the place where Manifest Destiny got a sunburn.

Many think of 1776 as the defining year of American history, when we became a nation devoted to the pursuit of happiness through self- government. In Unfamiliar Fishes, Sarah Vowell argues that 1898 might be a year just as defining, when, in an orgy of imperialism, the United States annexed Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Guam, and invaded first Cuba, then the Philippines, becoming an international superpower practically overnight.

Among the developments in these outposts of 1898, Vowell considers the Americanization of Hawaii the most intriguing. From the arrival of New England missionaries in 1820, their goal to Christianize the local heathen, to the coup d'état of the missionaries' sons in 1893, which overthrew the Hawaiian queen, the events leading up to American annexation feature a cast of beguiling, and often appealing or tragic, characters: whalers who fired cannons at the Bible-thumpers denying them their God-given right to whores, an incestuous princess pulled between her new god and her brother-husband, sugar barons, lepers, con men, Theodore Roosevelt, and the last Hawaiian queen, a songwriter whose sentimental ode "Aloha 'Oe" serenaded the first Hawaiian president of the United States during his 2009 inaugural parade.

With her trademark smart-alecky insights and reporting, Vowell lights out to discover the off, emblematic, and exceptional history of the fiftieth state, and in so doing finds America, warts and all.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Recounting the brief, remarkable history of a unified and independent Hawaii, Vowell, a public radio star and bestselling author (The Wordy Shipmates), retraces the impact of New England missionaries who began arriving in the early 1800s to remake the island paradise into a version of New England. In her usual wry tone, Vowell brings out the ironies of their efforts: while the missionaries tried to prevent prostitution with seamen and the resulting deadly diseases, the natives believed it was the missionaries who would kill them: "they will pray us all to death." Along the way, and with the best of intentions, the missionaries eradicated an environmentally friendly, laid-back native culture (although the Hawaiians did have taboos against women sharing a table with men, upon penalty of death, and a reverence for "royal incest"). Freely admitting her own prejudices, Vowell gives contemporary relevance to the past as she weaves in, for instance, Obama's boyhood memories. Outrageous and wise-cracking, educational but never dry, this book is a thought-provoking and entertaining glimpse into the U.S.'s most unusual state and its unanticipated twists on the familiar story of Americanization. (Mar.)
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Review

“Sarah Vowell is an intellectual melting pot. Her cleverness is gorgeously American…” – Los Angeles Times

“Its scintillating cast includes dour missionaries, genital-worshiping heathens, Teddy Roosevelt, incestuous royalty, a nutty Mormon, a much-too-­merry monarch, President Obama, sugar barons, an imprisoned queen and Vowell herself, in a kind of 50th-state variety show. It’s a fun book…[a] playful, provocative, stand-up approach to history.”—The New York Times Book Review

“As entertaining and personable as it is informative.”—Washington Post

“Sarah Vowell is for my money, the best essayist/radio commentator/sit-down comic and pointy headed history geek in the business.”—Seattle Times

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover; First Edition first Printing edition (March 22, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594487871
• ISBN-13: 978-1594487873
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (66 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #33,052 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Sarah Vowell is the author of the bestselling Assassination Vacation, The Partly Cloudy Patriot, Take the Cannoli, and Radio On. She is a contributing editor for public radio's "This American Life." She is also a McSweeney's person and the voice of teenage superhero Violet Parr in Pixar Animation Studios' "The Incredibles."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

104 of 110 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fun & fascinating look at Hawaiian history, March 22, 2011

By 

Peggy Tibbetts (Silt, CO USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Unfamiliar Fishes (Hardcover)

On page one Vowell establishes a clever metaphor for the theme of this book. She is in Hawaii eating a plate lunch of macaroni salad and shoyu chicken under a banyan tree. What do they all have in common? The banyan tree, shoyu chicken, macaroni salad, and author are all from somewhere else. From then on, Vowell takes readers on a rollicking voyage back to 1778, when James Cook landed on the shores of Kauai and named the archipelago the Sandwich Islands, through the next hundred years as the proud warrior natives endured the mishmash of cultures as they exploded onto their shores. Whether it was clashes between the New England missionaries and the sailors looking for rum and prostitutes, or Great Britain and the US fighting over imperialism, the Hawaiian natives were always caught in the middle. However, as Vowell shrewdly points out, they were often willing participants in the demise of their ancient customs. Throughout this extraordinary history of the kingdom of Hawaii Vowell injects her usual wink-wink nudge-nudge style of humor which makes "Unfamiliar Fishes" a fascinating and fun read.

25 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A brief yet enjoyable history of Hawaii, March 27, 2011

By 

E. Jacobs - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Unfamiliar Fishes (Hardcover)

Those who have visited Hawaii know that it has earned its status as a gorgeous place. However, outside of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the recent history of Hawaii is not something that comes up very often for mainlanders. This book provides an enjoyable lesson on the subject.

Sarah Vowell's oddball style of reporting is on display here as she broadly covers the history of Hawaii from the time the first Europeans stumbled upon it. She discusses some of the ancient culture and the clashes with the first missionaries to descend upon the islands from New England. The book culminates with a telling of how Hawaii was annexed to the United States through a joint resolution, since an annexation treaty failed to pass Congress after vehement protests by native Hawaiians.

There are admittedly some problems with this book in regard to the writing. At times, sentences seem to drift off and loop back around on themselves. There is also a hefty serving of fragmentary writing, and the transitions are not always easy to follow. However, if you stick with it, there is enough humor and insight to keep you entertained while learning something as well.

This book will probably not satisfy die-hard historians or those with very strong opinions on Hawaii's changes over the years. However, for the casual reader it's a great way to learn some of the history of this beautiful land, though it wasn't always a beautiful story. Some may not like the message, but it's a tale that needs to be told. In truth, this book made me feel plenty guilty for having been to Hawaii many times and not considering the steps it took for me to get there without a passport. I'm looking forward to another trip where I can investigate some of the sites mentioned in the book.

In summary, while Vowell's views on this subject are pretty obvious, she presents both sides of the annexation of Hawaii in manner that is rarely found in such an accessible book. While there are some problems with the readibility, these are outweighed by the humor and the plainspoken delivery of an often overlooked story.

23 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Laugh and Learn, March 27, 2011

By 

Nancy L. Mehagian (Los Angeles, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Unfamiliar Fishes (Hardcover)

As Jon Stewart recently said to Sarah Vowell, the great thing about your book is that you laugh and learn. He was right. I find the history of the missionaries in Hawaii fascinating, having spent considerable time there. I chuckled all the way through this incredibly well-researched book.