Recent Reading on Hawaiian Rights

BOOKS published in the last two years about the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy and events preceding it, and about 20th century Hawaiian sovereignty, include:

A CALL FOR HAWAIIAN SOVEREIGNTY, by Michael Kioni Dudley and Keoni Kealoha Agard (Na Kane O Ka Malo, 180 pp., 1991), outlines models of modern Hawaiian sovereignty against the historical background of dispossession.

STOLEN KINGDOM: AN AMERICAN CONSPIRACY, by Rich Budnick (Aloha Press, 1992; available by mail at P.O. Box 4183, Honolulu HI 96812), recounts the reigns of Hawaii's last two monarchs, David Kalakaua (1874-1891) and his sister, Lili'uokalani (1891-1893). The author quotes extensively from the reports of the US investigation of the overthrow of the monarchy and raises questions about the legality of the annexation.

TO STEAL A KINGDOM: PROBING HAWAIIAN HISTORY, by Michael Dougherty (Island Style, 260 pp., 1992), outlines Hawaiian pre-history, then focuses on key political figures from the late 1700s to the early 1900s. The author presents statistics on such topics as the decline of native population, missionary real-estate dealings, and how Hawaiians fared when the kingdom adopted Western-style land titles in 1848.

NATIVE LAND AND FOREIGN DESIRES, by Lilikala Kame'eleihiwa (Bishop Museum Press, 424 pp. 1992), analyzes the 1848 land division from the Hawaiian point of view. The author shows how the new land-title system gave Western capitalists access to private ownership of vast tracts and eventually led to the overthrow of the monarchy.