Sovereign Sugar: Industry and Environment in Hawai‘i

Carol A. MacLennan

Published by University of Hawaii Press 2014

Sovereign Sugar

Industry and Environment in Hawai‘i

Carol A. MacLennan

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780824840242

Overview
Contents

Author / Editor information

MacLennan Carol A. :

Carol A. MacLennan is Professor Emerita of Anthropology at Michigan Technological University who researches policy and industry in the United States. She has published on Hawai‘i’s sugar industry and North American mining.

Reviews

Mansel G. Blackford, Department of History, Ohio State University; author of Pathways to the Present: U.S. Development and Its Consequences in the Pacific:
MacLennan shows that the development of the sugar industry was far from easy or automatic in Hawai‘i—unlike what some other scholars have suggested. Instead, specific human decisions, which she carefully documents and explains, led to the development and dominance of sugar. As she proceeds, MacLennan points out the opposition to the industry’s development and analyzes how over time it was overcome. She provides the best account that I have seen on how and why missionary families moved into businesses, especially sugar, and how and why the Big Five firms developed their dominance.

The importance of sugar in Hawai‘i's pre-statehood economy is a well-known story. ... But anthropologist MacLennan demonstrates that the success of industrial agriculture with its sugar plantations was not as inevitable as many believe. In a sophisticated and nuanced study, she demonstrates that there is a complicated and larger environmental history as to how the sugar industry came to dominate and transform the human and natural landscape of Hawai‘i. Highly recommended.

Environmental historians will find plenty of material of interest in this book. . . . MacLennan has produced a well-written and easilyreadable account of the historical development of the Hawaiian sugar industry and how ‘Hawaiʻi today mirrors a landscape of sugar’s touch, but without the sugar.'

This is a well-researched and highly readable book on the history of sugar industry development in Hawai‘i and its impacts. . . . Much of the political, economic, and social history of sugar in Hawai‘i is well known, but MacLennan enriches the story with more detail and interesting mini-stories. . . . Her research on the impact of sugar on the natural environment [is] particularly interesting.

MacLennan does a great job detailing the diverse, and not always inevitable development of the seemingly dominant sugar industry in Hawai‘i, especially from the mid-nineteenth century to the 1910s. . . . [She] describes the transition in public land policy and environmental management from the goals of the Hawaiian monarchy (agriculture for international recognition as an equal independent nation) to the motivations of a U.S. territory (supporting the profitability of the sugar industry) . . . provid[ing] much detail on the development of the sugar industry for anyone with a desire for a comprehensive reference on this history.

Sonia P. Juvik:
MacLennan focuses her research on the period of immense social change that began in the 1840s but does not ignore the social and political preconditions that may have facilitated epochal events. . . . [Her] meticulous documentation of how and why the planters achieved their immense status, including the monarchs’ mounting financial indebtedness, presents a powerful study of the inner workings of capitalism and the relentless and ruthless path to profits. Thus she argues that while the heritage of Hawai‘i’s sugar industry is obvious in the alteration of indigenous landscape ecologies, because of impacts on society and culture the full extent of the industry’s legacy may yet be revealed.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Abbreviations Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
ONE. Waves of Influence Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	12
TWO. Sugar’s Ecology Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	36
THREE. Four Families Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	52
FOUR. Five Companies Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	81
FIVE. Agricultural Landscapes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	103
SIX. Plantation Centers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	123
SEVEN. Sugar’s Industrial Complex Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	145
EIGHT. Plantation Community Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	170
NINE. An Island Tour 1930s Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	201
TEN. Planters Organize Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	220
ELEVEN. Resource Policy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	249
Conclusion Sugar’s End Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	275
appendix 1. Vegetation Zones Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	283
appendix 2. Sugar Crop Acreage, Yield, Production, and Employment, 1836–1960 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	285
appendix 3. Major Sugarcane Producers in the Pacific and North American Markets, 1880–1940 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	287
appendix 4. Missionary Land Purchases of Government/Crown Lands, 1850–1866 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	289
appendix 5. Intermarriage of Second-Generation Missionary Families Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	292
appendix 5. Intermarriage of Second-Generation Missionary Families Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	293
appendix 7. Subsidiary Companies Organized, 1880–1910 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	295
appendix 9. Major Water Development Projects Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	298
appendix 10. Crown and Government Lands Leased for Sugarcane Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	301
appendix 11. Ranches in 1930 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	306
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	311
References Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	353
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	367
About the Author Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	379

Language: English
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 392
Illustrations
- Other: 21 illustrations, 4 maps

eBook

Published: March 31, 2014
ISBN: 9780824840242