"Captive Paradise: A History of Hawaii" by James L. Haley

One of my friends who now lives in Hawaii recommended "Captive Paradise:  A History of Hawaii" by James L. Haley for a good, easy to understand history of the state.  I have to say that I loved reading this book too!

Its hard to say that this is a complete history of the islands, but it is a really thorough and fun to read account of Hawaii's history, starting with the time James Cook stumbled across the area.

Documented were the first encounters between Cook's crew and those on the islands.  In general, things went well though the Hawaiians surprised him with their habits.  Some would take things, they spit a lot, and there were some other issues.  There were reasons for these behaviors (Haley explains the norms and customs).

The people on the islands had a very open attitude concerning sex and relationships, which was shocking to some but appreciated by others....

I was really interested in a small side story the author mentions at one point.  He says that 3-12 Japanese Navy ships probably shipwrecked in Hawaii before Cook came along.  I might have to look up some information on this at some point.  What do we know about these ships and how the crews interacted with the Hawaiians?

The book gets into the rulers who come along, and that all really starts to get interesting with King Kamehameha and goes from there.  The royals are a very interesting group of characters.  Pride, privileged, patriotism, sex and religion all factor in to the story.  Missionaries coming to the area have a huge influence on the people on the islands and their rulers.  The written language and the missionaries bringing their religion over parallel in Hawaii's history and James L. Haley really shows how this happens..

Haley also says in the beginning that he is going to write a very straight forward history.  I felt like the book had no agenda other than to tell an honest history, and I really appreciate that.  I think this book is going to stand up well in the future as Haley writes with no desire to praise or criticize the players unfairly.

If you are going to Hawaii or you've been and you are still curious about it....  this would be a great book for you.  "Captive Paradise" is packed at around 350 pages, but it is so fascinating, you can read it pretty quickly.  it gets my highest possible recommendation.