Kuleana: A Story of Family, Land, and Legacy in Old Hawai'i

Kuleana: A Story of Family, Land, and Legacy in Old Hawai'i by Sara Kehaulani Goo

A large tax bill becomes an opportunity for the author to explore her Hawaiian heritage. She represents a Hawaiian mutt, with heritage from China, Hawaii as well as other areas. She grew up in California and lives on the east coast. She still connects with family in Hawaii, but feels somewhat distance from the place. Her family has some land near Hana. A trust was set up to help maintain it. However, a large tax increase puts that into question. There are some complications. They had donated a heritage historical site to a local park entity. However, the terms were still not fully settled and that makes it difficult to build on the land. The narrative in the book travels back and forth in time as the author explores her and Hawaii's history. There are interesting contradictions to explore in the process. Her "native" culture is really a mixed culture of many of the pre-tourist immigrants. Should this be prioritized over the modern culture? Or were these just as destructive to the early Hawaiian way. How do we react to the various capitalist exploiters? They were able to rake land due to better understanding of the legal systems. However, they were also able to improve it in ways the others could not. Chasing out the tourists may help win elections, but do people really want to go back to pre-industrial society. Is there a way to do things so that everyone benefits? Often the attempts to "stick it to the tourists" really just help benefit the big hotels. This just swaps one tourist out for the other. What would be the best endgame for Hawaii?

Three Little Hawaiian Pigs and the Magic Shark

Three Little Hawaiian Pigs and the Magic Shark by Donivee Martin Laird, illustrated by Carol Jossem

This book is the three little pig story with a Hawaiian twist. The magic shark takes the place of the big bad wolf. He appears disguised as various Hawaiian people, such as a Shave Ice salesman. The pigs do notice the shark by a fin or other feature, but their initial houses are two week. With the final pig, however, the shark tries to blow too much that eventually drains to be flat. It is over-the-top Hawaiian funniness.

Hawaii ABC Book

Hawaii ABC Book by Regency Marketing

The only link I could find was from Poshmark. This is a cloth book with a page for each letter of the alphabet and a picture of something related to Hawaii. Is it really a book? It is nice to read.

My Grandma Could do Anything in Hawaii

My Grandma Could do Anything in Hawaii by Ric Dilz

Grandma can do just about any extreme activity in Hawaii. She doesn't necessarily do them, but she could. The short humorously illustrated book is a nice illustration of fun things from Hawaii.

Hawaii: A Novel

Hawaii: A Novel by James A. Michener

Michener novels go very long. Each chapter could easily be a standalone novel. Hawaii explores the history of Hawaii as a work of historical fiction. It starts with the early formation of the South Pacific islands and the plants and animals that arrive there. Then it goes onto the life on Bora Bora. This first part is perhaps the most "fiction" part of it. A difficult life is described on the island, with a group wanting to escape the difficulties and human sacrifice to find a new location. They set off blindly and eventually establish life in Hawaii.

The next section describes early missionaries. They came from New England and had to make a months-long trip around South America to arrive. They worked hard on civilizing and converting the natives. They did have success in eliminating some of the more negative parts of the culture and getting converts to Christianity. However, the converts were somewhat loose. While some did integrate with the Hawaiians, the primary preacher kept his family apart. They would go to church with the people, but would not generally associate with them.

The book then focusses more on the business and politics. At first it was often white mariners or missionaries that would settle and work on business ventures. Eventually, an irrigation system was set up (bringing rain from wet to dry side of islands.) This opened up the need for plantation labor. There was a wave of Chinese immigrants. This group worked hard and set up their own commerce. They also freely intermarried with Hawaiians, while still maintaining Chinese ties. Next came the Japanese. They tended to be more tightly intertwined with their group. They were more likely to become involved in government offices. There were also European (especially Portuguese) and other immigrants. These get mentioned in passing, but not with the detail of the Chinese or Japanese.

Hawaii became a true multi-ethnic area, with many groups intermingling, while still maintaining their identity. The people had various foibles. In the narrative, the narrative tends to follow the more flawed characters, while there is often another character that will try to convince them of the "better" way to do things. There are various bits of subterfuge needed to accomplish goals (such as making Hawaii part of the US). Though eventually, there is a reckoning. The book finally ends with Hawaii becoming a US state.

This is the second Michener book I've read, and it feels a lot like the previous one. The people seem to be quite similar to those in the other book, even though they occupy a very different time and place. Is this a statement on the universality of humanity or is it an unintentional flaw?