| Description |
xiv, 255 pages : illustrations, maps ; 21 cm. |
| Series |
The California world history library ; 10 |
|
California world history library ; 10.
|
| Note |
"An Ahmanson book in the humanities"--Back jacket flap. |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 217-238) and index. |
| Summary |
Few other images convey the nature of the tropics as effectively as the pineapple, yet this now-commonplace fruit was once a much-sought-after rarity, one that signified elegance and hospitality while it simultaneously destroyed cultures and launched empires. Continuing the eclectic cultural history of the Hawaiian Islands he began in Island World (2008), Okihiro traces the impact this one commodity has exerted throughout time and around the globe, aided by the vagaries of geography, ambitions of governments, heroics of explorers, and vanities of businessmen. Though he focuses on the predominance of James Dole's Hawaiian Pineapple Company, Okihiro also constructs a thorough time line for the pineapple's rise to influence and acceptance that ranges from the species' genesis in a remote corner of South America, to its temptation of European botanists and its unwitting role in the overthrow of Hawaii's royal government. Seamlessly fusing geography with anthropology, horticulture with international politics, Okihiro draws a comprehensive portrait of how a singular fruit can unite a world. |
| Subject |
North and south.
|
|
Imperialism -- History.
|
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Space and time -- History.
|
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Culture conflict -- History.
|
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Tropics -- History.
|
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Pineapple -- History.
|
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Hawaii -- History.
|
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Hawaii -- Relations -- United States.
|
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United States -- Relations -- Hawaii.
|
| ISBN |
9780520255135 cloth alkaline paper |
|
0520255135 cloth alkaline paper |
|
