Unfamiliar Fishes
Ratings20
Average rating4
15
Ratings20
Average rating4
From the bestselling author of *The Wordy Shipmates*, comes an examination of Hawaii, the place where Manifest Destiny got a sunburn.
Many think of 1776 as the defining year of American history, when we became a nation devoted to the pursuit of happiness through self-government. In *Unfamiliar Fishes*, Sarah Vowell argues that 1898 might be a year just as defining, when, in an orgy of imperialism, the United States annexed Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Guam, and invaded first Cuba, then the Philippines, becoming an international superpower practically overnight.
Among the developments in these outposts of 1898, Vowell considers the Americanization of Hawaii the most intriguing. From the arrival of New England missionaries in 1820, their goal to Christianize the local heathen, to the coup d'état of the missionaries' sons in 1893, which overthrew the Hawaiian queen, the events leading up to American annexation feature a cast of beguiling, and often appealing or tragic, characters: whalers who fired cannons at the Bible-thumpers denying them their God-given right to whores, an incestuous princess pulled between her new god and her brother-husband, sugar barons, lepers, con men, Theodore Roosevelt, and the last Hawaiian queen, a songwriter whose sentimental ode "Aloha 'Oe" serenaded the first Hawaiian president of the United States during his 2009 inaugural parade.
With her trademark smart-alecky insights and reporting, Vowell lights out to discover the off, emblematic, and exceptional history of the fiftieth state, and in so doing finds America, warts and all.
Reviews with the most likes.
Written in a really fun style. The history of how Hawaii became a state is really fascinating. Between the missionaries and whalers, and their descendants the capitalists, it is fascinating all around.
Maybe not her best, but I do like Vowell's books and her voice as she narrates. And this is helping me to prepare for my trip to Hawaii next week. 😀
Sarah Vowell always manages to take what should be dry, boring sections of history and enliven therm far beyond what I could reasonably expect.
This time the subject is the history of Hawaii, and I can confidently asset that prior to starting this book the extent of my knowledge in that area amounted to “it didn't used to be a state and now it is.” I know much more about how all this came to be, and the only emotion I can muster is sadness.
It's a tight narrative arc, the American interaction with the islands. It took less than a century to get from religious do-gooders genuinely concerned about the Hawaiians to a cabal of businessmen deciding their profits outweighed all other concerns and forcibly overthrew the elected government. I'm sure
The more history I learn, the more I suspect that I don't (and, in many cases, can't) know about any given topic. There are so many layers, characters and narratives swirling around any event that to discover one only inevitably leads you to several more. This is not a reason to discourage such pursuits, merely a reminder about their ultimate lack of finality. Still, the best we can get is closer, and the only way to do that is to keep trying.
I love Sarah Vowell's take on history- her writing is bright, witty, and has a way of making history seem real and relevant without ever being irreverent. In fact, Vowell's respect for the people and places she writes about seeps out of every page. She even seems to have a soft spot for the missionaries in “Unfamiliar Fishes,” those precursors to the land- and sea-hungry Americans who would go on to depose Hawaii's traditional constitutional monarchy.
Vowell takes the modern history of Hawaii (and it's hard to believe that her narrative spans less than 250 years) and connects it to current events, 19th century U.S. politics, her own personal experiences, and even, in a deeply Hawaiian way, to the beginning of time.
