The missionaries’ families thrive on the islands, and the Hales and Whipples establish wealthy and powerful dynasties that dramatically influence Hawaii culture and customs. Eventually 11 missionary families travel to Hawaii where they devote their energy to converting the ruling family, reaching success with Queen Malama. Two men take up this call: Abner Hale and John Whipple – who are based on the real historical figures Hiram Bingham and Asa Thurston. We first see a Hawaiian man, Keoki Kanakoa, preaching to a congregation at Yale University, where he begs the audience for missionaries to proselytize to the Hawaiian population – an event based on the real-life Henry Obookiah’s similar activity in 1809. The novel then skips over some thousand years as the third chapter, “From the Farm of Bitterness,” is set in the 1800s.

When they land on Hawaii, it looks like the volcano goddess Pere has heard and answered their prayers. The journey is perilous, but the group uses the three-star constellation Little Eyes to guide their boat. Led by King Tamatoa, they leave Bora-Bora on a long double canoe connected by a platform on which stands a small hut. A small, 60-person tribe from the island of Bora-Bora grows disenchanted with the increasing political and religious dominance of neighboring Tahiti. In the second chapter, “From the Sunswept Lagoon,” the novel historicizes some Hawaiian folklore and mixes that with what anthropologists have learned about the first settlers of these islands. Some comes in the form of migratory birds which inadvertently transport seeds, and some happens because of ocean currents.

Gradually, over millennia, the rich and fertile soil erupts with plant and animal life. The first chapter, “From the Boundless Deep,” covers the emergence of Hawaii as a landmass that forms as a result of lava cooling after volcano eruptions. To fully immerse his reader in the multiculturalism of Hawaii, Michener chose to mix untranslated Hawaiian, Japanese, and Chinese words into the text – as we read, we learn small bits of each language. Michener’s novel combines well-researched and historically accurate framework with fictional or fictionalized characters and tells stories about the way new waves of inhabitants made their way to the islands: first the Pacific Islanders, then New England missionaries, and finally Chinese and Japanese immigrants. Drawing on his experiences serving in the Pacific Theater in WWII and on his life on the islands afterwards, Michener created a sprawling epic that traced the history of Hawaii and its peoples from the creation of the volcanic islands through the 1950s. James Michener’s sweeping, multi-generational saga Hawaii was published in 1959.

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