- Hawaii by James Michener
This book was written in 1959 and tells an epic story of Hawaii. This book begins with the islands being formed by volcano action, the arrival of the first plants and birds, the first people coming from Tahiti, the arrival of Christian missionaires. Continuing on through the time of Chinese and Japanese immigration to the islands to work in the sugar fields, the story is interwoven between different groups on the islands. The end of the Hawaiian monarchy, the attack on Pearl Harbor, World War II and statehood. It's a complex work covering a huge time period. Michener was a writer of numerous such epic books. If you like to really get into a book, stay with the characters while something monumental happens, you'll like Michener's work. Other books, he has written include:
Chesapeake - Beginning in 1611, the story of a family in America over a period of four centuries.
Texas - This saga of Texas history spans four and a half centuries, beginning in the early 1500s. The Covenant - A historical novel covering over 15,000 years of history in South Africa and which focuses on three principal families who settled in the region throughout the centuries.
