While her struggle is apparent her story is difficult to follow and when it is followed it is merely repition: "I was held hostage in my own kingdom, I was strong, My subjects came to me with gifts... blah blah blah." I do not reccomend this book except if you are an insomniac, it certainly can put one to sleep

I really enjoyed the peaceful and elegant style of the Queen, but I realize that it might become tiring for most of today's readers. The book gets more and more interesting as it progresses. Please don't quit in the middle when it seems that we will never get out of royal social ocassions!
Also, there are valuable documents in the appendix.

The Queen accuses the traitors of Hawaii only indirectly, hence this book should be treated as an introductory study to the history of that period in Hawaii.

One thing - as the book progresses it makes the reader feel more and more sad.

You are there with her in her emotions as you read the accurate accounts from her own words. Who can deny the facts coming from a book written by our beloved Queen Lili`uokalani herself? An incredible woman, faced in a powerless state of being...A Queen of Hearts...

I enjoyed Eberhardt's "Body of a Crime", so I was eager to read "Against the Law". While the plot moved along at a good pace for the most part, and the description of the Hawaiian landscape and culture was interesting, I found the characters to be rather flat and the outcome quite predictable. The author telegraphed the clues so much that, apart from a couple of minor surprises, I could figure out what was happening well in advance of the characters. Still, the book did keep me moderately entertained for a few hours.

Eberhardt remains on the line of Martini and Grisham. Good law-novel, with suspense. You will change the suspect with each turn of the page. Keeps you longing for beautiful Hawai'i, although you have finished the book. Carefully written, between the lines it shows the present dichotomy of the so-called "progress" and the respect for the land of the ancestors, as well as the usual dirt behind the bright of power and politics. As a PA himself, Eberhardt seems to know quite well how much can justice twist without apparently breaking. It makes you wonder how many cases as this fiction-one do really exist, where many innocent people suffer, die, are arrested or convicted to cover-up some corrupted politician. It also takes you to the matter of justice-by-one's hand: is it, although not right, forgivable to make justice when law does not provide for it? Bet it happens more often than you think it does..

Michael C Eberhardt is truly better than Grisham. This story is a must read and will keep you on the edge of your seat! The characters are great and truly come to life in this thriller set in Hawaii.

Not only is this guidebook not complete--you'll get more information on Kauai from Hidden Hawaii, for example--but it's also outdated. Even though the book appeared in 1995, it doesn't include the substantial changes wreaked on the island by Hurricane Iniki in 1992. For example, the premier boogie boarding beach on the island was wiped out by the hurricane--a significant event noted by the other prominent guidebooks--but if you followed the advice in this one, you'd waste a day trying to find a beach that no longer exists. The same for hotels and restaurants that went out of business, etc. A guidebook has an obligation to stay current, and this one fails miserably--in fact, I wonder why it's still being offered for sale!

Excellent job on this guidebook. I was pleasantly surprised by its ease of use. Well organized and well written, this guidebook will be going back to Kauai with some friends of ours visiting next month. Sorry Amazon, but they are using the same tattered copy. Here is to more of the same!

If you have to pick one book to guide you through Kauai this is it. Small but very extensive, clearly organized and easy to use. Full of accurate maps to help you find things. I highly reccomend it.

After reading through this collection of "What-If?" stories, I can tell that I will not be holding on to this too much. Although the stories themselves are pretty good for the pulp novel status. Overall, a majority of the stories in this book are too defeatist in nature. The actual event though horrible and a loss for the US probably would not of lead to some of the time-lines that some of these authors pose. A number of them list the West Coast of the US being over run or captured. Finally, as others have stated the appendices listed are the good parts of this book. They explain the realities behind the attack, a time line of the attack, and finally an explanation of possible alternitives and the chances of them affecting the outcome of the attack. Possible better alternative histories of the attack on Pearl Harbor could be found in the book "Rising Sun Victorious" or in the books "What-IF and What-If 2"

An anthology of allohistories, that is, "what-if" stories based on the attack on Pearl Harbor. Like all anthologies, some stories are superb, some are weak, but overall the level is quite high. The only flaw, and it isn't a serious one, lies at the hands of the editors in their selection and organization of the stories. I'll leave the weakest part of the collection, Part 1, for last.
Part 2, 'Alternate Actions', are the stories by Pineiro, Reasoner, Dietz, and Hallanhan. These are the most traditionally "what-if" stories, hinging on a minor event causing a major change in result. Three are very good, and one, Reasoner's 'The East Wind Caper' is outstanding. A hard-boiled private eye (see Bogart in the role) stumbles onto the Japanese plot and saves the day. Well told, tightly paced and humorous.
Part 3, 'Alternate Aftermaths', contains stories by DuBois, Tillman, Allyn, and Keith. Of these, Keith's 'A Terrible Resolve' is the best, a tale of Japanese victories which lead the Empire up to the beaches of California before the success of the Manhatten Project and the actions of American kamikazi bombers, turn the Imperial Navy back.
A Postscript by Kupfer, which posits a Nazi victory over both America and Japan, is the most chilling story in the book.
The Appendices give an excellent historical background of the real world event, of the military and diplomatic realities which the allohistorians in the anthology had to manipulate for our entertainment.
Now, the worst for last, and as I previously said, it isn't too bad. Part 1, 'Alternate Architects', has the four stories by Hawke, Geraghty, DeFelice, Gorman. Very little allohistorical content in any of these, and what little there is, is only background color. Mostly these four just rehash old conspiracy theories about Roosevelt and/or Churchill knowing that the attack was going to happen and allowed it to go on in the hopes American would enter the war against Germany. I've got no problem with this belief, though I think, like most conspiracies, the proponents are assuming malice where simple incompetence is enough of an explanation. My problem with these stories is that so much of the tale is given over to rehashing the arguements, lecturing the reader on why the plot really did happen, that the stories are just plain boring. The editors could have had a much stronger anthology by leaving this part out and putting more of the rest in.
One observation, something that gave me a small grin. When reading the stories, watch for similarities between them. Variations on the phrase "cigarette, cigar, and pipe smoke" pops up in an awful lot of stories. I suspect the editors handed our a very detailed background guide to the authors, and some of them lifted material out of it verbatim.

This is one of the very best collections of alternate world histories that I have read and one I would use in the classroom were I still teaching. However, the stories as good as they are take second place to two very thoughtful essays by experts at the end of the book. Paul Thomsen gives an excellent diplomatic perspective of what went right and what went wrong in events leading to the attack. The greatest praise must go to historian William Forstchen who sums up the "The Realities of an Alternate Pearl Harbor". He brings out things that most of us either did not know or did not fully understand. It is his premise that even in the worst case scenarios all going against us, a third wave of attack destroying the oil tanks stored at Pearl which would keep us out of the Pacific for a year, the sinking of the three carriers that were away at the time of the attack which would mean no victories at Midway or the Coral Sea, the taking over of the base with veteran Japanese soldiers which would lose us Hawaii, and even the bombing of the Panama Canel which would take a year to rebuild, we would still have prevailed. Maybe the war would have been a year or two longer, but American moral resolve and production would have won out in the end. We were heavily devalued by most of the Japanese command and they would not foresee that in the American gestalt there is a sense of morality that makes us fight for what we see as not just territorial goals, but for freedom. In doing so we believe in complete victory. If anything, the Japanese would have been worse off to have gone beyond their success at Pearl. A year longer to get started would have meant more production of weapons on our part and by 1946 we would have had more than three atomic bombs. We likely would have laid waste to Japan to pay back for the conquest of Hawaii, the bombing of Panama, and raids on California. As it was, the Japanese were surprised at the resolve we did show. They thought we would be forced to compromise and negotiate a peace. They were as surpised as Muslim fanatics must be today in seeing our reaction to the attack on the Twin Towers in New York and the Pentagon in Washington D.C. and related actions. We prevailed then, we will now.

This CD was horribly put together. The videos are choppy, poor quality. The navigation is very confusing to follow, and the "interviews" are all just self-serving ... by her cronies. It's obvious Trask is under the spell of "look how great I think I am," rather that putting together a truly educational CD. When somebody writes their own review of their work saying that its "widely considered a masterpiece" and fails to quote any actual sources, you know you're getting gyped out of [money].

Wonderful, intelligent, humorous--at times-- and absolutely top drawwer. A must read for anyone interested in indigenous politics, peoples, lands, or issues, and Hawai'i

This CD-Rom which has literally taken me days to go through - there is just so much information on this disk! The focus of the CD is mainly on education and Haunani-Kay Trask's practice of education, how it helps the Hawaiian people's struggles for sovereignty. The interface of the cd is clean and navigation easy basically just point and click. The videos were great very clear and the audio clean - much better quality than videos on my encyclopedia cd-roms, and the thing I love best is how you can listen to a whole segment and go back to certain parts within that segment without having to listen to the whole thing all over again. Sometimes Haunani Kay Trask will say a word that I never heard of so the definitions that appeared next to the video were extremely helpful. I think being able to listen and watch Haunani Trask talk makes her ideas a little bit easier for me to understand since I'm not the best reader. The two things I would have liked to see more of on this CD would have been more pictures of Haunani Trask and videos of residents of Hawaii, but overall I really liked it and recommend it to people interested in Haunani, her work, or just education in general.

This book contains good and useful information on Hawaii. If you are trying to decide on where to stay, or where to eat, then this book has some good information.

I found this book to be lacking in many areas. The maps are only adequate, and in many cases do not provide enough detail for the average tourist. Family activities were not detailed enough. One example would be the Dolphin Quest program in the Hilton Waikoloa Village. There is no mention of the fact that you can actually get into the lagoon and interact with the dolphins or even arrange a private session with the dolphins. While the beach section does have information on many of the popular local beaches, many beautiful and more private ones were left out.

I guess my greatest criticism of this book is that Hawaii Volcanoes National Park only receives a mention. People of all ages can enjoy and learn how this island was created and actually see that creation in action.

Pictures are worth a thousand words, and this book contains none.

If you want a book with the most up to date maps, must see sites not mentioned in other books, detailed activities and adventures, then get the book "Hawaii The Big Island Revealed." It is the best I have seen, and I have seen many books on Hawaii.

The sixth edition of this book is an invaluable assist to anyone planning a stay- or many!- on the Big Island. No-nonsense, no-hype information with prices. Recommendations that make sense to the traveler.

One unfortunate attribute is the author lists all this by "District"- but omits any general map of the districts in the introduction, making the reader thumb and fumble through the book, wasting considerable time finding information pertinent to the destination in mind. If you are seeking lodging near Kilauea, you need to look at TWO districts, Puna and Ka'u... but those of us not familiar with the districts will not find this out without some work.

In spite of the orientation difficulties, unimaginative and terse and the very so-so typefaces, this book is the source of essential information to the independent traveler not buying a prepackaged trip to the Big Island, when combined with another general guidebook, like Moon's.

How big is the Big Island? So big to one 20-year resident writer and photojournalist says that "I'm still learning new things everyday about this wonderful place."

And luckily, John Penisten chooses to share those findings in a new edition of "Hawai`i -- The Big Island: Making the Most of Your Family Vacation," a delightful volume for visitors and a great reference for residents.

"Of the six million visitors to the Aloha State in the last year, a million or so of them spent all or part of their stay on the Big Island," Penisten said. "They are drawn by the Big Island's friendly multi-cultural population, variety of lodging facilities, its diverse scenic and cultural sites and attractions, numerous sporting events and recreational activities and much more.

"Visitors from all over the globe continue to experience and enjoy the special grandeur of Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park, the verdant tropical rain forests of the Puna, Hilo and Hamakua Coast areas, the start deserts and lava flows of Ka`u and Kohala, and the pastoral beauty of upcountry Waimea and its rolling ranch lands and wide-open spaces. Enjoyment also is found in the pristine beauty of historic Waipio Valley, majestic volcanic peaks of Mauna Loa, Mauna Kea, Hualalai and the Kohala Mountains.

The first edition of Penisten's book was published in 1989. Ten years later, the sixth edition arrives with a revised section on accommodations including an expanded listing of bed & breakfast operations around the island as well as a guide to "the plush world-class resorts and luxury condos of the Big Island's fabulous Kona and Kohala Coasts."

Research for the family guide was accomplished with the assistance of Penisten's wife Susan and their two daughters Janelle and Joelle. Special sections of interest to families include traveling with children, grocery and gift shopping, camping, water safety, and Hawaiiana reading lists for children and adults.

Each section, whether it is food, fishing or fun, has a selection of the author's personal "best bets." Under beaches, for example, Penisten lists Anaeho`omalu, Hapuna and Kauna`oa, all on the Kohala Coast, under most beautiful beaches. Safest playing and swimming beaches for youngsters include Spencer, Onekahakaha, Kamakahonu and Kahalu`u. Other categories are shelling and tidepooling beaches, snorkeling beaches and sunbathing beaches.

The maps are clear. There's a short history of Hawai`i and a guide to pronunciation of Hawaiian words. A listing of selected Hawai`i Internet sites includes the Big Island Visitors Bureau, Hawai`i County, Planet Hawai`i, the Hawai`i Island Bed & Breakfast Association and the Hawai`i State Vacation Planner among others. Information on Big Island newspapers, radio, resort associations and visitor publications also is provided.

My favorite is a five-page partial listing of annual social, community, cultural and sporting events. It is up-to-date enough to have Merrie Monarch Festival in April (the date changes every year as Merrie Monarch week always begins on Easter Sunday) and International Festival of the Pacific in August. Travelwriter Marketletter said, "The Big Island is a huge subject, but travel writer John Penisten does it full justice. It would be a shame to visit Hawai`i without this book."

Hawai`i: The Big Island is one of several Paradise Family Guides to our island state. The guides to Maui & Lana`i and Kaua`i were written by Dona Early and Christie Stilson.

Penisten's 344-page soft cover book includes information on more than 270 restaurants ranging from casual to luxury resort dining. More than 170 hotels, condominiums, bed & breakfast, and vacation rentals are mentioned including basic rates and toll-free telephone numbers.

Penisten is an independent photojournalist and writer based in Hilo. He is the owner of Pacific Pictures, a photo agency specializing in images of Hawai`i and Pacific Rim destinations. His photographic experience leads to a detailed section on tropical photography in the Big Island guide. Penisten touches on equipment, film, accessories, shooting on location and special factors such as rain, sand and ocean spray.

He is a contributor to Tropi-Ties, an online magazine. In addition, he is on the faculty of Hawai`i Community College.

I bought this book before our trip to New Zealand to provide detailed/specifc information about using a Campervan to see New Zealand. We took the book with us and referred to it several times during our vacation there and found it to be neither helpful or accurate. Using a campervan to visit New Zealand had many serious considerations that I do not feel were adequately detailed in this very small, non detailed book. One of the funny things was that the book mentioned how patiently and how detailed the instructions would be by the campervan company. To the contrary was our experience, there was minimal information provided, just "You refuel here, the spare tire is here, you turn it on there. Any questions? No?, Well have a good day mate." Once out of the parking lot, the fun begain with trying to drive a stick shift situated on the "wrong" side of the vehicle and driving on the "wrong" side of the road. Had the book specified some of the problems associated with this, and the dangers, we would have had more realistic expectations. Since this book was a "Campervan" book, my expectations would be that the book would spend much more time on how to deal with such a "beast", as we came to consider our campervan.

In addition, the book gushed about the great roads, which were not great once outside of Auckland, and the lack of graffetti and trash, which we saw much of in Auckland and even in the rural settings. Many other details mentioned in the book we found not be be the case. The various sites to see were not discussed in enough detail to be either intriging or edifying.

This is not to discourage anyone from going to NZ, but I felt that the book did not cover the reality that a traveler meets. One would do much better with getting a general travel book of New Zealand, which be did, and use that for planning and executing his or her trip.

This is nice little book, but it is not at all what the description led me to believe it was and it is certainly not worth the cost. This is not a true guidebook at all. Rather, it is a very brief (only 128 pages total, with wide margins on all 4 sides of the page) account of the Hostrop's personal travel experiences with little tidbits of advice tossed in.

I have visited Australia twice and am planning a third trip, which is why I purchased this book. It will not be of use to me in planning my next trip, nor do I believe it would have been especially useful in planning my previous trips, even though my last trip was made in part in a campervan.

I also found the repeated urgings to make use of Newmans (a travel agency) a bit disconcerting. Was the Hostrops' trip underwritten by Newmans?

My advice: spend your money on the Frommer's and Lonely Planet guides. They will be much more useful.

Though my wife and I had a general guide to Australia and New Zealand, surprisingly, we felt that the Hostrops' book gave all the sightseeing information needed as most sites also had their own detailed literature. We appreciated the emphasized suggested itinerary given which took us to the most important sites and to the excellent recommended lodgings and campgrounds. We also appreciated the excellent information on the "free" stopover islands. On the way over, we stopped in the Cook Islands and on the way back we stopped in Tahiti. This a gem of a book which goes to the heart of what independent travelers need for a most enjoyable journey to Australia and New Zealand. Highly recommended for independent travelers.

My partner and I were touring Hawaii by cruise ship and used this book in conjunction with the Trailblazer series. Instead of using the workout room aboard ship, we worked out hiking the beautiful trails on Maui and Kaui. Since the Fodor's didn't provide detailed maps we relied on the full pagers in the Trailblazer. It was a good system for combining loafing with seeing the place on foot and also a nice way to work off the enormous amount of food availalbe almost 24 hours a day. Fodor's provided a good cultural overview.

Fodor's Hawaii is a useful reference book for either multi-island trips or stays of a short duration. It does a good job of going over background, and some hotels, restaurants and activities. I used some recommendations for restaurants in Honolulu and Maui and was very happy.
Think of this book as giving you the "big picture". If you are planning on a stay of four or more days on an island, I suggest getting an island-specific guide. Because Fodor's covers all the islands, it can only give about 75 pages on Maui for example. It did not cover the popular bike rides down from the top of 10,300 ft Haleakala volcano to the sea--rather it said some companies rent bikes for this trip. An example of an island specific book is "Maui Revealed" which has 300 pages of details and insider information.

Overall I would use Fodor's again, but would supplement with other material.

This guidebook was basically a good introduction to Hawaii. It contained all the essential trip information and we found all the recommendations to be first rate. The restaurant and hotel suggestions were far more superior than those in the Revealed series. I'm giving it four stars because I would have liked to see more maps.

In my day, publishing such a thing would have resulted in forced cold showers for all concerned, followed by a brisk rub down with a salted brillo pad from matron.

Draft them all into the army, get some old-fashioned discipline and a sense of what it is to be a man, that's what I say!

Although...when I think back to some of the barrack-room antics old "Sticky" Carstairs used to get up to, perhaps that isn't advisable in this case.

Quite liked the cover though.

OK, I'll admit it: I read "Fuck You-Aloha-I Love You", primarily because of its taboo-breaking title. What I discovered was a volume of poetry that is not wholly satisfying, but still interesting.

The back cover data notes that Spahr is assistant professor of English at the University of Hawai'i in Honolulu. This book consists of 6 poems ranging in length from 2 pages to more than 20 pages. "things" explores the term "da kine," which the back cover notes is a pidgin term. "gathering: palolo stream" ends with a note about the controversy over indigenous Hawaiian rights to the land. "a younger man, an older man, and a woman" ends with a note saying that the poem draws from an acrobatic performance the author saw at Waikiki.

I found this volume often repetitive and obscure. Occasionally the language sounds a bit pretentious and stiff. Here's a sample (from "a younger man [...]"): "Culture is a group enterprise and / requires the cooperation and / teamwork of we who are in the / formations." I also did not like the fact that she uses a number of apparently Hawaiian terms (aholehole, mai'a, kukui, etc.) but doesn't include a glossary for those who might not be familiar with these words.

I felt that the use of the notorious "f-word" in the title was gratuitous and really didn't add much to the book (besides being an attention-getter). I have mixed feelings about this volume as a whole. But, the "f-word" issue aside, I found Spahr's poetry to be oddly compelling.

This book moved me deeply - I was shattered by some of the symbolism and eclliptic narrative. As an eldery grandmother, I was particularly touched by the 'Older woman' piece; it quite took me back to my younger days! I highly recommend this thoughtful and pervocative work.

Provides same "off the beaten path" information that can be found in better organized general travel guides like: the "Unofficial Guide to Hawaii"

This book is full of little pleasant surprises hidden from the tourists to the Hawaiian islands. We espcially like the narrative descriptions of the road to Hana and the one-day drive one can do in the upcountry region of Haleakala on Maui. It also provides information on parts of Oahu where tourists hardly set foot, like the Waianae coast. We found it helpful but wish it were a little better organized by bullets or headings. The long narratives can really drag and make the book not as easy to use. But overall, it is a book worth buying for those who wish to see a little more of the real Hawaii.

I got this book for my mom, who was planning a trip to Hawaii. She has been before, so I thought she might want to see some of the "off the beaten path" sights, instead of the usual tourist stuff. There were a lot of interesting things in the book, though it wasn't as in depth as I was hoping for. Definitely worth taking a look at - I plan on borrowing it before my own trip to Hawaii. :)