Lost Kingdom
Hawaii's Last Queen, the Sugar Kings, and America's First Imperial Adventure
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4.1 • 13 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
The New York Times–bestselling author delivers “a riveting saga about Big Sugar flexing its imperialist muscle in Hawaii . . . A real gem of a book” (Douglas Brinkley, author of American Moonshot).
Deftly weaving together a memorable cast of characters, Lost Kingdom brings to life the clash between a vulnerable Polynesian people and relentlessly expanding capitalist powers. Portraits of royalty and rogues, sugar barons, and missionaries combine into a sweeping tale of the Hawaiian Kingdom’s rise and fall.
At the center of the story is Lili‘uokalani, the last queen of Hawai‘i. Born in 1838, she lived through the nearly complete economic transformation of the islands. Lucrative sugar plantations gradually subsumed the majority of the land, owned almost exclusively by white planters, dubbed the “Sugar Kings.” Hawai‘i became a prize in the contest between America, Britain, and France, each seeking to expand their military and commercial influence in the Pacific.
The monarchy had become a figurehead, victim to manipulation from the wealthy sugar plantation owners. Lili‘u was determined to enact a constitution to reinstate the monarchy’s power but was outmaneuvered by the United States. The annexation of Hawai‘i had begun, ushering in a new century of American imperialism.
“An important chapter in our national history, one that most Americans don’t know but should.” —The New York Times Book Review
“Siler gives us a riveting and intimate look at the rise and tragic fall of Hawaii’s royal family . . . A reminder that Hawaii remains one of the most breathtaking places in the world. Even if the kingdom is lost.” —Fortune
“[A] well-researched, nicely contextualized history . . . [Indeed] ‘one of the most audacious land grabs of the Gilded Age.’” —Los Angeles Times
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Behind the modern bustle of the nation's only island state lies this sad, sobering tale of decline, betrayal, and imperialism. It centers on the admirable last monarch of the Hawaiians, Queen Lilu'okalani, who struggled against palace intrigue, American sugar barons, and eventually cynical American military diplomacy before losing her throne in 1893, a few years before the U.S. simply annexed the Hawaiian islands as American territory. Wall Street Journal contributing writer Siler (The House of Mondavi: The Rise and Fall of an American Wine Dynasty) skillfully weaves the tangled threads of this story into a satisfying tapestry about the late 19th-century death of a small nation at the hands of United States imperialists and businessmen like Claus Spreckels, a German immigrant grocer turned sugar refiner, who by 1876 had bought up half of Hawaii's anticipated sugar crop. The leading character, the queen, comes off as more done to than doing, yet Siler convinces you that the well-meaning, staunch Lilu'okalani had few options when confronted with superior power. Siler's history would have benefited from an interpretive thread, but it makes up in sympathetic detail what it lacks in stimulating ideas.
Customer Reviews
Lost Kingdom
A fantastically researched book written with rich detail, I enjoyed this book so much though it’s a somewhat tragic story. America’s “manifest destiny” continues to be a black eye in our history as the misery we export continues to wreak havoc around the world. I find it ironic that the flowery prose of our founding fathers that spelled out a commitment to liberty and justice led almost immediately to brutal imperialist pursuits around the world (not to mention our instant quest to eliminate the Native Americans). It’s also worth pointing out that the object of American greed in Hawaii was sugar…an insatiable American appetite for the single most ruinous ingredient led to the demise of a sovereign island nation. Sad stuff.