Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
Audiobook8 hours
Paradise of the Pacific: Approaching Hawaii
Written by Susanna Moore
Narrated by Kaipo Schwab
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
()
About this audiobook
The history of Hawaii may be said to be the story of arrivals-from the eruption of volcanoes on the ocean floor 18,000 feet below, the first hardy seeds that over millennia found their way to the islands, and the confused birds blown from their migratory routes, to the early Polynesian adventurers who sailed across the Pacific in double canoes, the Spanish galleons en route to the Philippines, and the British navigators in search of a Northwest Passage, soon followed by pious Protestant missionaries, shipwrecked sailors, and rowdy Irish poachers escaped from Botany Bay-all wanderers washed ashore, sometimes by accident. This is true of many cultures, but in Hawaii, no one seems to have left. And in Hawaii, a set of myths accompanied each of these migrants-legends that shape our understanding of this mysterious place.
In Paradise of the Pacific, Susanna Moore, the award-winning author of In the Cut and The Life of Objects, pieces together the elusive, dramatic story of late-eighteenth-century Hawaii-its kings and queens, gods and goddesses, missionaries, migrants, and explorers-a not-so-distant time of abrupt transition, in which an isolated pagan world of human sacrifice and strict taboo, without a currency or a written language, was confronted with the equally ritualized world of capitalism, Western education, and Christian values.
In Paradise of the Pacific, Susanna Moore, the award-winning author of In the Cut and The Life of Objects, pieces together the elusive, dramatic story of late-eighteenth-century Hawaii-its kings and queens, gods and goddesses, missionaries, migrants, and explorers-a not-so-distant time of abrupt transition, in which an isolated pagan world of human sacrifice and strict taboo, without a currency or a written language, was confronted with the equally ritualized world of capitalism, Western education, and Christian values.
Author
Susanna Moore
Susanna Moore is the author of the novels The Life of Objects, The Big Girls, One Last Look, In the Cut, Sleeping Beauties, The Whiteness of Bones, and My Old Sweetheart, and the nonfiction works I Myself Have Seen It: The Myth of Hawai‘i and Paradise of the Pacific: Approaching Hawaii. She lives in Hawai‘i and teaches at Princeton University.
Related to Paradise of the Pacific
Related audiobooks
Lost Kingdom: Hawaii's Last Queen, the Sugar Kings, and America's First Imperial Adventure Come On Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You All: A New Zealand Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Voyagers: The Settlement of the Pacific (The Landmark Library Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Aloha Rodeo: Three Hawaiian Cowboys, the World's Greatest Rodeo, and a Hidden History of the American West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Chesapeake Requiem: A Year with the Watermen of Vanishing Tangier Island Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Salmon Way: An Alaska State of Mind Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Galápagos: The History of the Famous Pacific Islands and Their Unique Ecosystem Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Human, the Orchid, and the Octopus: Exploring and Conserving Our Natural World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gulf: The Making of An American Sea Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Conquering The Pacific: An Unknown Mariner and the Final Great Voyage of the Age of Discovery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mini Maui Travel Guide: 7 Quick Steps to Experience the Island of Maui in Hawaii to the Fullest Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsConquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Island: Discovery, Defiance, and the Most Elusive Tribe on Earth Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Ecuador - Culture Smart!: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Lost Men: The Harrowing Saga of Shackleton's Ross Sea Party Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Whale Warriors: The Battle at the Bottom of the World to Save the Planet's Largest Mammals Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Why We Swim Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Pacific Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Old Way: A Story of the First People Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Island of the Lost: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Island of the Blue Foxes: Disaster and Triumph on the World's Greatest Scientific Expedition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Full Fathom 5000: The Expedition of the HMS Challenger and the Strange Animals It Found in the Deep Sea Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gulf of Mexico: A Maritime History Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Shoal of Time: A History of the Hawaiian Islands Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Letters From Hawaii Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Kingdom of Hawai’i: The History of the Hawaiian State Before It Was Annexed by America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
United States History For You
Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing the Witches: The Horror of Salem, Massachusetts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lincoln-Douglas Debates: The First Complete, Unexpurgated Text Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, A Japanese American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lies My Teacher Told Me: 2nd Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Killing the Guys Who Killed the Guy Who Killed Lincoln: A Nutty Story About Edwin Booth and Boston Corbett Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Up From Slavery Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of September 11, 2001 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Untold History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wright Brothers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Land of Delusion: Out on the edge with the crackpots and conspiracy-mongers remaking our shared reality Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5UFO: The Inside Story of the US Government's Search for Alien Life Here—and Out There Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lafayette in the Somewhat United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Astor: The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and A Legacy of Rage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Letter from Birmingham Jail Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related podcast episodes
Where the Water Goes: Life and Death Along the Colorado River 100% found this document usefulDan Flores | Coyote America 0% found this document usefulJennifer Raff on the Genetic History of America 0% found this document useful'The End of Drum-Time' captures a complicated love story in an Arctic community 0% found this document usefulS01E01 - A Shadow of the Past 0% found this document usefulCannery Row 0% found this document usefulMoby Dick, or the Whale. By Herman Melville. Part I. 0% found this document usefulAlternative Aliens with Andy Weir and David Grinspoon 0% found this document usefulThere, There: A Novel 0% found this document usefulMr. Fabulous: A conversation with the metrosexual Black thru-hiker who fell in love with the A.T. 0% found this document usefulDavid Grann on his new book 'The Wager' 0% found this document usefulOtherlands: A Journey Into Our Planet’s Deep Past, with Thomas Halliday 0% found this document useful
Related articles
A Return to Cruising SailArticle
A Return to Cruising
Jan 14, 2020
8 min readBoards Surfing LifeArticle
Boards
Oct 5, 2022
3 min readThe Self Sufficient Sailor Rises Again Cruising HelmsmanArticle
The Self Sufficient Sailor Rises Again
Aug 20, 2019
2 min readDear Edward Abbey: Things Aren’t Looking Great for the Wild Literary HubArticle
Dear Edward Abbey: Things Aren’t Looking Great for the Wild
Oct 10, 2018
5 min readKatharine McPhee's Family Nanny Was Reportedly The Victim In Fatal Crash At Car Dealership Los Angeles TimesArticle
Katharine McPhee's Family Nanny Was Reportedly The Victim In Fatal Crash At Car Dealership
Aug 15, 2023
2 min readThe Visit To Harar GetawayArticle
The Visit To Harar
Oct 14, 2019
Sir Richard Burton was an extraordinarily brave explorer and scholar with a genius for language and disguise. A year before this trip to Ethiopia, he became the first European to enter Mecca. Burton would go on to elope with his childhood sweetheart,
3 min readHow Humans Sank New Orleans The AtlanticArticle
How Humans Sank New Orleans
Feb 6, 2018
9 min readA Tropical Treat HorticultureArticle
A Tropical Treat
Apr 20, 2023
8 min readSpice Of Life Australian GeographicArticle
Spice Of Life
May 1, 2019
8 min readDiscovering The Polynesian Islands How It WorksArticle
Discovering The Polynesian Islands
Feb 20, 2020
4 min readNAVIGATING the UNKNOWN New Zealand ListenerArticle
NAVIGATING the UNKNOWN
Jul 4, 2021
9 min readThe Evolving Stories Of Rapa Nui WellBeingArticle
The Evolving Stories Of Rapa Nui
Apr 10, 2019
8 min readSurviving ata Boating NZArticle
Surviving ata
May 29, 2022
5 min readTracing the Incredible Journey of Polynesians Around the Globe Literary HubArticle
Tracing the Incredible Journey of Polynesians Around the Globe
Mar 14, 2019
8 min readWhat Happened To The Easter Isladers? All About HistoryArticle
What Happened To The Easter Isladers?
Jan 30, 2020
6 min readIN THE WAKE OF Wallace Travel & Leisure India & South AsiaArticle
IN THE WAKE OF Wallace
Sep 9, 2019
7 min readSpice Of Life Classic BoatArticle
Spice Of Life
Dec 8, 2023
7 min readUnexpected Pacific Paradise Australian GeographicArticle
Unexpected Pacific Paradise
Feb 29, 2024
THIRTY YEARS AGO, while sailing north through the Great Barrier Reef, I devoured American travel writer Paul Theroux’s book The Happy Isles of Oceania: Paddling the Pacific. On that sailing adventure I only skimmed the outer rim of the vast Pacific O
8 min readAn Island Mystery BBC History MagazineArticle
An Island Mystery
Mar 17, 2022
7 min readBirds Without Borders Cosmos MagazineArticle
Birds Without Borders
Jun 14, 2023
17 min readHow Taboos Can Help Protect the Oceans NautilusArticle
How Taboos Can Help Protect the Oceans
May 26, 2021
In 1777—after whipping local people for trivial offenses, spreading venereal disease, and clumsily avoiding a plot to kill him—the English explorer James Cook left the shores of Tonga laden with treasures. Not least among them was a word scrawled in
11 min readA POINTY Past Camper Trailer AustraliaArticle
A POINTY Past
Aug 15, 2019
4 min readSailing To The Shiant Isles Yachting MonthlyArticle
Sailing To The Shiant Isles
Sep 14, 2023
8 min readRemote Learning Travel & Leisure India & South AsiaArticle
Remote Learning
May 11, 2022
12 min readWhat an Oyster Hears NautilusArticle
What an Oyster Hears
May 19, 2023
14 min readExploring the Pacific How It WorksArticle
Exploring the Pacific
Dec 21, 2023
3 min readSeadogs of Yore Trade-A-BoatArticle
Seadogs of Yore
Mar 11, 2020
1 min readMurder Islands ARCHAEOLOGYArticle
Murder Islands
Oct 8, 2022
11 min readA Group of Orca Outcasts Is Now Dominating an Entire Sea The AtlanticArticle
A Group of Orca Outcasts Is Now Dominating an Entire Sea
Jan 29, 2021
14 min readPacific Gems Cobblestone American History and Current Events for Kids and ChildrenArticle
Pacific Gems
Apr 1, 2022
3 min read
Reviews for Paradise of the Pacific
Rating: 3.749999966666667 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
12 ratings1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I loved this audiobook as an introduction to Hawaii-- the land, the people and the history--as we flew to the islands for the first time. I especially valued the copious first-hand accounts!