Hawaii

Lately I have been reading while exercising on the elliptical. This means about three hours a weeks have been the extent of me effort. Hawaii started for me a couple of times, seemed boring as hell, but on this attempt, of middle adulthood, and slightly more effort, the hook was set and I managed to get through it. At three hours a week, this monster took me about ten weeks to get through.
Hawaii was written by James A. Michener and published in 1959 by Valentine Books. The paperback edition has 1130 pages.
The plot is basically this history of the islands, starting before mankind as an upright being.  How the island chain was formed by volcanoes along an oceanic tectonic plate. First settled by Polynesians from Bora Bora. A society forming based symbiosis on what the island offers naturally. Then discovery by the English travelers, later settling by missionaries from New England.  In particular this story describes the effect of a particular shipload of Congregationalist ministers from Connecticut.
This was interesting to me since having grown up in Connecticut and having been a member of said church. That triggered more interest and I have since found that the state was founded by Congregationalists seeking separation from the Puritans of Massachusetts. Peculiar in the sense that they were seeking to escape those that sought to escape the religious persecution in England. These are the folks that generated the first colonial constitution, that became the foundation of United States Constitution.
This particular group of ministers became the backbone of capitalism in the islands, some still rooted in puritanical righteousness. The New Englanders became plantation owners and intercontinental traders. Seeking fresh supplies of manpower for the plantations, Chinese, Filipinos, Indians and Japanese all came to Hawaii to work and eventually evolved, fully after World War 2, into powerful constituencies rivaling the fading power base of the missionary settlers that had been built over the previous 100 years.
The book comes to an end after the ascension of Japanese political power and just before statehood for Hawaii.
A slow read, not for people who like action, but a book filed with information. I enjoyed Hawaii very much and recommend for a change of pace.