01792cam a2200277 4500 165889820 TxAuBib 20060124120000.0 060124s2002||||||||||||||||||||||||eng|u 9780375760372 0375760377 (OCoLC)806285394 TxAuBib Michener, James A, 1907-, (James Albert.) Hawaii / By James A. Michener. 2002 Paperback Edition. New York, New York : Random House, Inc, 2002. 937. Originally published in 1959 - The volcanic processes by which the Hawaiian Islands grew from the ocean floor were inconceivably slow, and the land remained untouched by man for countless centuries until, little more than thousand yaers ago, Plynesian seafarers made the perilous journey across the Pacific and discovered their new home. They lived and flourished in this tropical paradise according to their ancient traditions and beliefs until, in the early nineteenth century, American missionaries arrived, bringing a new creed and a new way of life to a Stone Age society. The impact of the missionaries had only begun to be absorbed when other national groups, with equally different customs, began to migrate in great numbers to the islands. The story of modern Hawaii, and of this novel, is one of how disparate peoples, struggling to keep their identity yet live with one another in harmony, ultimately joined together to build America's strong and vital fiftieth state. 20060124. Hawaii - Fiction. Hawaiians - Fiction. Immigrants - Fiction. Missionaries - Fiction. TXBAY