A scholarly work but as readable as a novel, this is the first history of plantation life as experienced by the laborers themselves. The oppressive round-the-clock conditions under which they worked will make you glad they fought back in one huge strike; Takaki charts this conflict well.
Pau Hana is a refreshing change from the usual genre of ethnic materials expressing the dynamics of culture set within an historical context; it is an exciting sequential analysis of the various ethnic peoples who provided plantation labor for the Hawaiian cane fields from the 1860s to the 1920s. Using primary resources, songs, historical tracts, and census data, Takaki brings together the various ethnic perspectives into a cogent account of the history, culture, and economy of sugar cane plantation existence. From early beginnings to the decline of ‘king sugar,’ Takaki presents the Euroamerican perception of Native Hawaiians, Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Norwegians, and Filipinos and [its] attempts to keep the ethnic groups isolated to prevent any unified strike-action against plantation owners’ unfair labor practices.
A fascinating insight into the lives of multicultural sugar workers who lived and worked on plantations in the Hawaiian islands from the late 1830s until . . . 1920.
