Before the missionaries arrived, the islands held an oral tradition.

What you read of Hawaii is largely written in English and often by people born elsewhere. There’s even a bar in Waikiki named after the 1925 Charlie Chan novel, House Without a Key. Paul Theroux penned a satirical novel, Hotel Honolulu, about a 49-year-old writer down on his luck who lands a job managing a hotel and showing us a cross-section of those who pass through. Once a playground for royalty, the beaches of Waikiki still attract throngs of tourists year round. From the visitors who penned tales there passing through, including Mark Twain, Jack London, Robert Louis Stevenson and Somerset Maugham to authors, like Paul Theroux, who end up calling it home – the island city has long held a magnetic attraction to foreigners. This account of exchanging subjugation in one country for oppression in another gives a terrific portrait of early Asian immigrants to the islands.Īuthors have come as well. She escapes Korea as a mail-order bride, looking for education and a better life, but finds herself married to violent man who works on the plantations. Alan Brennert’s Honolulu follows the lives of Korean immigrants in the early 20th century, focusing on a female protagonist, Regret. The cross-section of Pacific and Asian cultures that arrived brought a mix of races, food and languages.

The cross-section of Pacific and Asian cultures that arrived brought to Hawaii a mix of races, food and languages The 19th century saw obsessive attempts by global powers to control the islands Hawaii has always had an influence and lure greatly disproportionate to its size. While Honolulu is mostly thought of by Americans as a tourist destination, it’s also a connective port between Asia and the United States, making it a central nexus of business, immigration and the military. Apparently based on real Honolulu detective Chang Apana, the protagonist was meant to serve as a rebuttal to the stereotyped Chinese villains in films and books. In 1846 the Honolulu Police Department was established, perhaps providing inspiration Earl Derr Biggers’s detective novels starring fictional Chinese detective Charlie Chan.

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