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Hawaii Goes to War: Life in Hawaii From Pearl Harbor to Peace
Brown, DeSoto, Hawaii Goes to War: Life in Hawaii From Pearl Harbor to Peace. Honolulu, HI: Editions Limited (P.O. Box 10150, Honolulu, HI, 96816) 1989. iii, 160 pp, ISBN: 0915013118 (hc) $20.00 0915013126 (pa) $17.00. Bib., Illus
“A picture is worth a thousand words.” Whoever said this must have read this book. It is chock full of glossy pictures of Hawaii during the 1940s. Beginning with the attack on Pearl Harbor and concluding with the end of World War II, the book tells the story of Hawaii as it is swept into war. One of the most interesting portions of the book is, of course, the chapter devoted to Pearl Harbor. Many people thought that the attack was merely the military showing off or that it was a military drill. Nobody actually believed that Hawaii was being attacked. People’s descriptions of the attack and its aftermath are vivid and provide insight into the confusion and realization that something bad had just happened. It is something that I guarantee will reverberate in the minds of readers. Aside from Peal Harbor, the book also allows readers a glimpse into the aftermath of the attack. Through the glossy pages of photographs and the various quotes, the reader is swept back to Hawaii as the military takes over: long lines form at the grocery stores, the environment of downtown Honolulu changes to fit the war-type atmosphere, and various other events occur after the attack. It is a vivid glimpse into Hawaii in a time of turmoil. Overall, the book is a worthwhile read for both scholars and general readers. Although its cover is overtly cheesy and “screams” eighties mindset, and it is more complementary to a coffee table than a bookself, much of the information presented is from primary sources such as magazines, diaries, etc. In fact, the author works at the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum as the Collection Manger of Moving Images, so many of the primary sources are most likely from the Bishop Museum archives. In addition, many of the photographs and quotes provide vivid images of Hawaii during the turmoil of Pearl Harbor and its aftermath. To somebody from the mainland, these are rare images and they are images that one doesn’t necessarily find in mainland books about Pearl Harbor or Hawaii. However, for all it’s worth, this book is not without flaws. For a historian, in particular, the absence of footnotes, or endnotes, for the quotations is bound to mark this book as “unscholarly.” There is a Quote Index that has the resources from which the quotations are cited, and directions for determining which citation goes to which quote, but you have to know the page number. In addition, some readers may find that the directions are not very helpful. This seems to be a trade mark of Brown’s books. Another of his books, Aloha Waikiki: 100 years of pictures from Hawaii's most famous beach, also lacks footnotes, or endnotes for the pictures, but similar to Hawaii Goes to War it has an index that cites the sources. Nonetheless, in this case the reader has a Quote Index, which has direction and that will help researchers find potential materials for their research. Another minor criticism is that the book does not define chapters. This seems to be more on the part of Brown than the designer, Anne Ellet. Despite Ellet's efforts to include a table of contents with chapter listed, however, the book still lacks in this area. The chapters bleed into one another and the size and font of the lettering do not distinguish one chapter from another. Nonetheless, this is only a minor issue and most readers will probably not even notice.
Submitted by Laura O’Neil, University of Hawaii at Manoa LIS student, April 27, 2005
“A picture is worth a thousand words.” Whoever said this must have read this book. It is chock full of glossy pictures of Hawaii during the 1940s. Beginning with the attack on Pearl Harbor and concluding with the end of World War II, the book tells the story of Hawaii as it is swept into war. One of the most interesting portions of the book is, of course, the chapter devoted to Pearl Harbor. Many people thought that the attack was merely the military showing off or that it was a military drill. Nobody actually believed that Hawaii was being attacked. People’s descriptions of the attack and its aftermath are vivid and provide insight into the confusion and realization that something bad had just happened. It is something that I guarantee will reverberate in the minds of readers. Aside from Peal Harbor, the book also allows readers a glimpse into the aftermath of the attack. Through the glossy pages of photographs and the various quotes, the reader is swept back to Hawaii as the military takes over: long lines form at the grocery stores, the environment of downtown Honolulu changes to fit the war-type atmosphere, and various other events occur after the attack. It is a vivid glimpse into Hawaii in a time of turmoil. Overall, the book is a worthwhile read for both scholars and general readers. Although its cover is overtly cheesy and “screams” eighties mindset, and it is more complementary to a coffee table than a bookself, much of the information presented is from primary sources such as magazines, diaries, etc. In fact, the author works at the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum as the Collection Manger of Moving Images, so many of the primary sources are most likely from the Bishop Museum archives. In addition, many of the photographs and quotes provide vivid images of Hawaii during the turmoil of Pearl Harbor and its aftermath. To somebody from the mainland, these are rare images and they are images that one doesn’t necessarily find in mainland books about Pearl Harbor or Hawaii. However, for all it’s worth, this book is not without flaws. For a historian, in particular, the absence of footnotes, or endnotes, for the quotations is bound to mark this book as “unscholarly.” There is a Quote Index that has the resources from which the quotations are cited, and directions for determining which citation goes to which quote, but you have to know the page number. In addition, some readers may find that the directions are not very helpful. This seems to be a trade mark of Brown’s books. Another of his books, Aloha Waikiki: 100 years of pictures from Hawaii's most famous beach, also lacks footnotes, or endnotes for the pictures, but similar to Hawaii Goes to War it has an index that cites the sources. Nonetheless, in this case the reader has a Quote Index, which has direction and that will help researchers find potential materials for their research. Another minor criticism is that the book does not define chapters. This seems to be more on the part of Brown than the designer, Anne Ellet. Despite Ellet's efforts to include a table of contents with chapter listed, however, the book still lacks in this area. The chapters bleed into one another and the size and font of the lettering do not distinguish one chapter from another. Nonetheless, this is only a minor issue and most readers will probably not even notice.
Submitted by Laura O’Neil, University of Hawaii at Manoa LIS student, April 27, 2005
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