Shoal of Time a History of the Hawaiian Islands

Rating:
Summary: Trouble In Paradise
Review: Anyone who has read James Mitchner's Hawaii, which includes just about anyone who has visited the islands, and is in need of a historical fix (as in correction) ought to read Gavan Daws excellent Shoal of Time: A History of the Hawaiian Islands. Daws has done what Mitchner could not with his admirably popular, historically inadequate, sprawling epic, told the whole story.

Through no fault of the author in any historical fiction the emphasis is on the fiction, as it should be; as a result the history is bound to suffer in some form. This is a disservice to both history and the authors who choose to write about it, especially if people then believe "this is what happened, and how."

Daws' book should be the book everyone who visits Hawaii should read at some point, especially if they have read Mitchner. Unlike Mitchner, the history Daws tells begins not with pre-history which to a certain degree can be sketchy and speculative at best (native Hawaiians had no written language, rather their stories/legends/beliefs/accomplishments were told and passed on orally from generation to generation via complex and myth laden chants). Rather Daws chooses to begin his story with the "discovery" of Europeans by the Hawaiians to turn a phrase. The history begins with the arrival of the ill-fated, but well intentioned, Captain Cook, as he stumbles into the Hawaiian islands in the late eighteenth century while looking for something else.

As in Alan Moorehead's The Fatal Impact, this is where the real story begins, as this cultural collision portends ill for the Hawaiians as they then become even more belligerent eventually uniting under a single king with the help of a few well intentioned outsiders along.

Again as in Moorehead the act of discovery becomes an act of destruction. Whalers, missionaries, planters, immigrants (Japan, China, Portugal, Philippines etc.), politicians, and various and sundry hangers on descend on the island to carve and shape what was once perfect into something much different. Something much changed and still evolving, like the islands themselves.

All of this ultimately results in the overturning of the monarchy in the interests of what's best for Hawaii, but not necessarily the native Hawaiians.

Shoal of Time is a compelling read. The full story is fascinating, disturbing, enlightening and sad as the Hawaiians are pushed out of their own history into some shadow existence where they tentatively remain today.

Mitchner got some of it right. Daws gets it all right.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Read!
Review: As an annual visitor to the Big Island, this book really brought home to me much of the history behind the place I visit or drive by regularly. I'm not sure how to describe Daws' style, but it's great - you're reading history and fact without feeling entirely like you're reading a history book! More like the story of an ever-evolving family. What a book!

Rating:
Summary: A notably American-centric, colonial view of Hawai'i
Review: Daws' Shoal of Time is a frequently-read introductory piece to Hawai'i's history, but readers must beware of the slanted historiography which fill its pages. Daws begins with James Cook's visit to Hawaii; yet Hawai'i has 2000 years of history predating this European visit, and native sources (notably the scholar Samuel M. Kamakau, in the original Hawaiian language editions) indicate that Cook may have not been the first non-Hawaiian to 'discover' Hawai'i. The decision to start his history at 1778 erases the preceding 1,778 years of lives, deaths, loves, politics, etc.

Similarly, Daws ignores nearly all of the Hawaiian language sources, including more than ninety Hawaiian Language newspapers published from the 1830s to the 1940s, in which the vast record of the Hawaiian people is recorded. In pursuing this monolingual history of a multicultural place, Daws depicts Native Hawaiians as passive participants in the vicissitudes of history. He misses, for example, the thousands of petitioners rising up against American annexation of Hawai'i in 1897 and 1898. He also writes in celebratory tones about the build-up of American military in Hawai'i throughout the 20th century, without an analysis into the powerful political economy of dependency and militarism which is the backdrop for this period.

Hawai'i's history is very complex, and deserves a more careful reading than Daws is willing to provide here. Instead, his popular book is an apologia for American empire, without an appreciation for the voices of empire's discontented islanders.

Rating:
Summary: A great one-volume history
Review: Everyone I know who has read Daws' book seems to agree with the other reviewers at this site that this is an excellent presentation of Hawaiian history. I've bought this book as presents for family and friends, and I keep going back to my dog-eared copy to re-read certain sections, such as the narrative of the infamous Charlton Affair.

One criticism I might offer is that the book was written in 1989. An update would be appreciated.

Rating:
Summary: A great introduction to Hawaiian history
Review: Hawaii has a rich history involving chiefs, and kings, and wars, and international diplomacy.

In "Shoal of Time," Gavan Daws relates this history in interesting, non-biased detail. Daws gives a quick sketch of Hawaii before James Cook arrived. He talks about the way the Hawaiians greeted the ships and gives snips from journal entries.

When it comes to the reign of the Kamehamehas, Daws does a wonderful job of showing the practical brilliance of how Kamehameha the Great and Liholiho mastered the game of diplomacy--allying themselves with England, France, and the United States in ways that prolonged their independence.

Daws also does a masterful job of showing how the once innocuous missionary families brought about the ultimate fall of the monarchy. Few authors can relate this story without showing passionate bias, but Daws succeeds. (Both Hawaiian activists and members of old missionary families will be offended, I think.) Daws avoids the common prattfall of painting King Kaulakaua and Queen Liliuokalani as saints, and Stanford Dole and Loren Thurston as demons.

Some have complained that Daws's book ends with statehood. Books need to end somewhere. Statehood was the right place to end because Hawaiian statehood is an entirely different epic.

Daws's book is a nearly perfect introduction to Hawaiian history--a survey book that covers all of the bases. After finishing this book you may want to move on to more detailed books on the fall of the monarchy (see the works of R.S. Kuykendall), ancient Hawaii (see "Ruling Chiefs of Hawaii" by S. M. Kamakau), and the attack on Pearl Harbor (see "At Dawn We Slept" by Prange and Goldstein).

I absolutely recommend "Shoal of Time" for anybody curious about Hawaiian history. I especially recommend this book to tourists coming to the islands for the first time. Reading this book could improve a visit. Knowing the significance of Iolani Palace and other sites cannot help but improve your visit.

If you are visiting Oahu, I also recommend purchasing a copy of "A Walk Through Old Honolulu" by the late O.A. Bushnell. This long out of print pamphlet gives a concise history of the buildings that speckle a small walkable distance in downtown Honolulu.

...

Rating:
Summary: An excellent hawaiian history text book
Review: I love the way the author presented his own idea in this book. His opinion makes the book much easier to read. Though I have some trouble on the vocabularies he used, Shoal Of Time is no doubt an excellent hawaiian history text book.

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully written
Review: If history texts were written more like Shoals of Time, we'd all probably find ourselves more engrossed in the fascinating subjects of our past. This book reads almost like a novel and it drew me in right at the first chapter. Gavan Daws weaves a colorful tale from his well-researched sources cited in his notes.

Alas, it does not delve into Hawaiian history before the arrival of Cooke. What a tragedy for us all; Gavan Daws might have held us spellbound even longer.

Rating:
Summary: 500+ Pages, And Still Incomplete!!
Review: Trying to write a history of the Hawaiian Islands---or any other place, for that matter---is like trying to teach the history of the British Empire in one three-hour college course; in other words, impossible! You've got to make hard choices about what to include, and what to leave out, and your choices often speak volumes about you as a writer of history and about the audience you intend to reach. Gavan Daws excellent book, Shoal of Time, does an admirable job in presenting as much history of Hawaii as possible in a manageable single volume that is (relatively) free from overt bias. He starts with the "discovery" of the islands by Captain Cook in the 1700's, moves through the Kamehameha monarchs and their often bloody battles (this section is one of the book's highlights), continues with the work of the missionaries (for better or worse, sometimes with tragic consequences), importation of oriental workers to help with the great sugar plantations, and finally finishes with Hawaii as a territory, WWII, and statehood. Dawes is mostly concerned in telling the various political intrigues that are woven throughout Hawaiian history: monarchs vs. monarchs, missionaries vs. "hedonists", foreigners vs natives and others; by concentrating his efforts in this direction, he accurately depicts the history of the islands as one fraught with controversies over citizenship, ownership, and how the fledgling territory and state is viewed by the world at large. Both Great Britain and the United States play significant roles and each at one time lays claim to the tiny republic; Dawes must be given special accolades for presenting the (at times) unsavory annexation attempts by both nations as factually and as completely free from bias as possible. An admirable job of storytelling, yet there are one or two subject matters that Dawes could have at least touched upon that would have made Shoal more complete, including: (1)ancient, pre-Cook Hawaii, (2) more discussion about islands other than Oahu and Maui, which take up close to 90% of the book, and (3)the rise of Hawaii as a tourist and cultural mecca, in the 1950's and beyond, and how such a rise will affect the future of the islands and the growing sovereignty movement. In short, Shoal of Time is a very fine work, and should be one of your first purchases when assembling your library of island history and Hawaiiana.

Rating:
Summary: Colorful History
Review: Understanding the history of America's states is an important part of understanding why America is the way it is today and how it can face the problems of the future. Shoals of Time provides a basis for understanding how one of the two non-contiguous states became a state and more importantly a history of the culture and the problems that the people of Hawaii faced from the time Cook landed on the islands up through the passage of statehood. As a history text Shoals of Time provides a model of what history is about.

First, Shoals of Time gives the background details necessary for the understanding of the turmoil and conflict that emerged when two very different cultures clashed under less than ideal circumstances. The stories that Daws incorporates into the book to describe the impact of European influence on the vastly different culture of the South Pacific are detailed enough to enlighten the reader as to how and why the conflict occured. At the same time the details are not so minute as to keep the reader from being focused on the big picture, which is the second asset of this book.

History is more than names, dates, and places. It is a story of people, whether it be told in an economic, political, or social manner, it is the story that matters. Daws provides a superb story for the reader to follow. He neither loses the forest for the trees, nor the trees for the forest. The details shed light and tell the overarching story of the Hawaiian islands and give outstanding insight into the push for secession that exists today in the islands.

Hawaii is a beatiful place to visit, but knowing the history of what happened and where in this paradise makes the islands that much more intriguing and that much more spectacular.