John H. Chambers

A fairly succinct, workmanlike overview of Hawaii's history. Having been to the islands several times (and planning to return), I found the book helpful in putting what I was seeing in historical context. That being said, however, the book isn't written with much pizzazz--it's sort of like reading a long term paper. There are a number of sidebars scattered throughout the text to provide some "color," but they read pretty flat as well. Whenever the author cites a quote, it seems pretty arbitrary, as the quotes usually don't prove very enlightening. For instance, one sidebar features Mark Twain's Hawaiian sojourn. Twain had many clever and colorful things to say about his trip, but you'd never know it from the author's details.

Still, the book is helpful for its overview. Use it as a framework for understanding Hawaiian history and enhance it with further reading elsewhere.… (més)

27. Hawaii (On-the-Road Histories) by John H. Chambers (2006, 299 pages, read May 18-31)

I never would have picked this up had I not been planning a trip to Hawaii, and had I not already had some trouble getting basic history of the Islands. But, since I did have the trip planned, and since I wanted to know about Hawaiian history, and since that history is so darn complicated, and since, therefore, what I needed was a very simple linear narrative to give me a detailed outline with all the key names, key events and basics …this was a perfect book. I picked it up once to scan and found myself reading the whole thing and enjoying it and getting what I wanted from it.

The book itself feels like a travel book with glossy pages, lots of pictures, along with random single-page articles. The history is interesting, nicely presented. No complaints.

2011
http://www.librarything.com/topic/120136#2831431… (més)