Hawaii is a group of islands known throughout the world for it's physical beauty, and is one of the most popular of tourist destinations. However, few visitors ever learn much about the Hawaiian people themselves and their history, dating back at least 2000 years.This book covers the origins of the Hawaiians, their traditions, royalty, and history up to the end of the 19th century, when Hawaii was annexed by the United States.How many people know that there were two distinc...

This classic collection of Japanese haiku focuses on the beautiful Hawaiian Islands.Poetry is the voice of man's humanity. It that special art form, that private vocabulary, in which the writer speaks to the reader of things they both have known and dreamed together. The seventeen syllables haiku, the most imagistic of all literary art forms of Japanese culture, was used by Mrs. Morrow to express her feelings, longings, and joys. As the Japanese make up the largest...

This is the story of the Japanese who immigrated to Hawaii around the turn of the present century, worked as forced laborers on the sugar plantations, and afterwards remained in Hawaii to work as free men and to raise families. It is the story also of their children, born and raised in Hawaii, and who, during World War II, won fame and glory for themselves and their country on the bloody battlefields of Italy and southern Europe.But more than all of this, it is the story of the fat...

Mango Lady & Other Stories from Hawaii takes the reader on a journey not unlike a long ride across the face of a giant wave, full of unexpected turns and surprises, weaving together memories, fantasies, and personalities that stretch from long ago Hawaii to modern day Vietnam. Through all of them is the connecting spirit of the Islands, its special mana, its people, its surf, bringing times past into the present in a special, intimate way. There is Mango Lady, who lived in Waikiki since ch...

Although its soils are the youngest in the Hawaiian chain, the Big Island's chronicles are at times epic, tragic, and heroic, but always fascinating. Modern Hawai'i is filled with tradition and mythology, accommodating influences as diverse as its inviting landscape. Kamehameha stood tall to mold this nascent region into a unified kingdom and others fought to sustain it, while outside forces molded and shaped this island in astonishing ways.

The haunting story of the Scottish-Hawaiian Princess Victoria Kaiulani ;the fragile beauty who,as heir-apparent,was groomed all her life to be the future Queen Of Hawaii.Despite the struggles of loyal Royalists who fought for the beleaguered throne,Kaiulani's birthright was swept away forever when the Monarchy was overthrown in January 1893.Hawaii was annexed to the United States on Aug.12,1898.After a reckless horseride in the rain ,Princess Kaiulani died seven months later at the age of ...

You might find your neighbor in this book. Or your childhood hula teacher. Or the farmer who grows your vegetables, the man at your favorite chili counter, the artist who weaved your lauhala mat. Jocelyn Fujii's profiles in "Stories of Aloha" highlight the authentic core of Hawai'i: its people. Modest, resilient, resourceful, sometimes struggling and always extraordinary, the cultural treasures and small family businesses have built our neighborhoods and defined Hawai'i through several gen...

The Hawaiian kingdom's last monarch wrote her biography in 1897, the year before the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands by the United States. Her story covers six decades of island history told from the viewpoint of a major historical figure. Introduction by Glen Grant.

Amy Tan’s The Valley of Amazement is a sweeping, evocative epic of two women’s intertwined fates and their search for identity, that moves from the lavish parlors of Shanghai courtesans to the fog-shrouded mountains of a remote Chinese village.Spanning more than forty years and two continents, The Valley of Amazement resurrects pivotal episodes in history: from the collapse of China’s last imperial dynasty, to the rise of the Republic, the explosive growth of lucr...

A young New Yorker grieving his mother's death is pulled into a gritty underworld of art and wealth in this “extraordinary” and beloved novel that "connects with the heart as well as the mind" (Stephen King, New York Times Book Review), named a New York Times Best Book of the 21st Century.Theo Decker, a 13-year-old New Yorker, miraculously survives an accident that kills his mother. Abandoned by his father, Theo is taken in by the family of a weal...

Read all about the fascinating world of sharks. There are over 500 species of sharks, and there is a great deal of diversity among them. Sharks include the world's largest fish, the Whale Shark, as well as some as small as a few inches. Most are predators, but a few filter plankton from the seawater.

What does a whale's skin feel like?How many miles can a whale travel in a year?What is baleen? How do whales eat with it?What is the biggest animal in the world? Is it even bigger than a football field?Learn the answers to these questions, and more.Find out what a whale looks like, where it lives, what it eats, what eats it, how babies are born, and other fun facts.All measurements in American and metric.LearningIsland.com believes in the...