Kamehameha III: He Mo'olelo no ka Mo'i Lokomaika'i Paperback – 2 Oct. 2015

I had heard that this Hawaii King was special in quite a number of ways and defective in others. This book was very interesting and now I understand this most important part of Hawaii's history a lot better.

This book by Dr. Klieger is wonderful. It fills in all the gaps, that those who knew, were unwilling to tell. It explains how Kauikeaouli used all the different foreign factions, while being very nice and considerate to them, against each other to keep his kingdom stable at a time when merchants and missionaries wanted to have the world their way - never considering the intelligence and justice in the native system of ruling. At the same time Kleiger shows how Kauikeaouli kept his people apprised of the present events and his own role in leading them - though sometimes coded messages and sometimes just by his behavior. Missionaries characterized him as a drunk and said he had outrageous behavior, but Klieger makes it possible to see that Kauikeaouli knew exactly what he was doing. Kleiger shows how the concept of "mana" of the divine kingship was kept alive during his reign.