Lost Kingdom: Hawaii's Last Queen, the Sugar Kings, and America's First Imperial Venture

First visited by foreigners in when Captain James Cook arrived in 1778, Hawaii was already an established society with a thriving culture and economy. The arrival of Christian missionaries thirty years later and the subsequent conversion of the Royal Family to Christianity was only the first link in a chain of events that eventually led to the American military annexation of this sovereign nation in America's first act of international imperialism beyond its own borders.Award-winning journalist and author of the New York times best-seller, The House of Mondavi: The Rise and Fall of an American Wine Dynasty, Julia Flynn Siler, tells the story of Queen Lili'uokalani, sovereign of a nation already heavily mortgaged to foreign interests when she took power at the end of the nineteenth century. The gradual erosion of a broad-based subsistence economy eventually led to the creation of a one-crop system based on the raising and exporting of sugar cane for the benefit of a small group of wealthy men known as the sugar kings. Finally, the U.S. Marines landed on the island and, marching to the palace, incited the monarch's overthrow.Ms. Flynn Siler's accessible style brings the reader into the life of the island immediately with her glossary of native Hawaiian words so important to our understanding of local cultural concepts. The main players are introduced straight off and then the historical drama begins to proceed to, what seems to be, its inevitable conclusion. Her lively writing avoids the pitfall of dry, historical reportage, retaining the colorful palate of the islands themselves in order to better illustrate their unique story.Equal parts history lesson, human drama and social, political and economic commentary, Lost Kingdom is an insightful look into America's past and may provide an important lesson for those who will determine her future. For today's Americans, desirous of a more responsible participation in world affairs, this examination of the events of the last century may lead to better understanding of a unique part of our own nation and a clearer view of the effects of our participation in the affairs of other nations. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.