The dramatic history of America's tropical paradiseThe history of Hawaii may be said to be the story of arrivals―from the eruption of volcanoes on the ocean floor 18;000 feet below; the first hardy seeds that over millennia found their way to the islands; and the confused birds blown from their migratory routes; to the early Polynesian adventurers who sailed across the Pacific in double canoes; the Spanish galleons en route to the Philippines; and the British navigators in search of a Northwest Passage; soon followed by pious Protestant missionaries; shipwrecked sailors; and rowdy Irish poachers escaped from Botany Bay―all wanderers washed ashore; sometimes by accident. This is true of many cultures; but in Hawaii; no one seems to have left. And in Hawaii; a set of myths accompanied each of these migrants―legends that shape our understanding of this mysterious place. In Paradise of the Pacific; Susanna Moore; the award-winning author of In the Cut and The Life of Objects; pieces together the elusive; dramatic story of late-eighteenth-century Hawaii―its kings and queens; gods and goddesses; missionaries; migrants; and explorers―a not-so-distant time of abrupt transition; in which an isolated pagan world of human sacrifice and strict taboo; without a currency or a written language; was confronted with the equally ritualized world of capitalism; Western education; and Christian values.
#1969048 in Books 2013-02-01Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.30 x 1.00 x 6.30l; 1.50 #File Name: 352535407X331 pages
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