For those who possess only a passing familiarity with human history, the sins of colonialism are obvious. From the cultural and societal devastation of African nations to the systematic depopulation of North American Natives, virtually every time a superior culture has encountered an inferior one widespread exploitation has been the decisive and shameful result. Humans, after all, find it difficult, at the best of times, to avoid the abuse of power. Asking them to do so when there exists no check against their military or economic might is sadly unrealistic. However, while we are all-too-aware of the savage results of colonialism's corrosive caress, we are less familiar with the origins of these conflicts, the incidents and the moments of happenstance that lay the groundwork for disaster. And so, that Ms. Siler has, here, trained her powerful attentions upon this, western civilization's original sin, is welcome. That she does so while illuminating the fascinating life of a true queen is merely a bonus.
Born in 1838, to powerful Hawaiian chiefs, Lili;Suokalani was the last monarch of the Hawaiian kingdom prior to its annexation by the United States of America. Reared some 50 years after James Cook's discovery of the Hawaiian islands put her nation on the map, Liliu lived a life divided by the two Hawaiis, the Polynesian one that existed for centuries until the arrival of the great British explorer and the Christian one which bloomed with the subsequent advent of protestant missionaries from North America. Consequently, she, like many of her generation, became an amalgam of these two disparate cultural forces, preserving what she could of her tribal heritage while adopting the dress, the speech and the faith of the Anglo-Saxon missionaries invading her land. For make no mistake, theirs was an invasion, a cultural conquest that introduced, into the native population, the ideas of mercantile capitalism, the probity of Christian modesty and the lethality of European diseases which mercilessly ravaged the unprotected Hawaiians.
For all this, Hawaii might well have remained for the Hawaiians were it not for the sugar crop that thrived in its tropical environment. Supplied with an abundance of cheap, Asian labor, American entrepreneurs found Hawaii a profitable venture, settling on and cultivating the land in a manner that soon made the emigrants wealthy. This financial stake, combined with a built-in sense of superiority, emboldened the westerners to take a hand in Hawaiian affairs, to ensure that the good times kept on rolling. And so, when the Hawaiian crown finally fell from the bowed head of a profligate king and into the arms of the island nation's last queen, they felt entitled to act against her in the preservation of their power. In doing so, they, at knifepoint, imposed upon Hawaii a hated constitution that not only paved the way for American annexation, it guaranteed the death of the Hawaiian way of life.
Lost Kingdom is a spellbinding biography. Ms. Siler casts a wide net, fetching from the tides of history the preachers and robber barons, the governors and would-be do-gooders, who shaped Hawaii during its defining century. But as much as she wonderfully captures the excesses of David Kalakaua, the evolution of Sanford Dole and the greed of Claus Spreckels, it is the steadfastness and the tragedy of Lili;Suokalani around which her history pivots. For it is she who represents Hawaii's transformation from a tribal kingdom into the Pacific outpost of an imperialist America. It is she whose life is forever changed by the zealousness of missionaries and the self-interest of enterprising Americans. It is she who does all that she is asked to do, follows the westernizing plan her betters have laid out for her, only to find herself trapped in a loveless marriage, her people riven by disease, her kingdom abolished by force of arms, and her freedom constricted by interests far more powerful than she. Quite the reward for a life lived in the pursuit of western virtue...
Ms. Siler does eminent justice to a difficult and tangled history. In doing so, she lends gravitas to a story Ms. Vowell's breezy account failed to convey. This is no less the anatomy of imperialist expansion. Let its lessons not be forgotten. (4/5 Stars)
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