While Unfamiliar Fishes does have some of the famous personal anecdotes from her research trips, this book is more so straight history than her earlier books; however, that isn't a problem since the subject of American and Hawaiian history is so fascinating. This make the book feel more similar to her previous work, The Wordy Shipmates than say the earlier Assassination Vacation or The Partly Cloudy Patriot.
Possibly this subject matter is more interesting to me as I've been fortunate to travel to Hawaii when i was younger and, in a way that I'm sure the author would approve of, have been to (or nearby) a number of the historical locales/museums that she discusses. Vowell discusses the subject matter of history from the first haole (foreigners) to the annexation of the island nation to the US in light of the ear's then imperialist mindset.
This is a fascinating book. It could have actually been longer and incorporated some more of the tangential subjects she touches on, such as the territories the US gained after the Spanish-American War (Guam, the Philippines, Cuba, Puerto Rico, etc.) or talk more about the era from the 1898 Annexation to the present, or at least statehood in 1959. The other thing the book could really have used was book could really use is an index, as there are no real chapter breaks.
Despite those slight issues, the only other issue I had with the book is that the book seems to sometimes meander back and forth, much like The Wordy Shipmates. This book is actually how I'd imagine a conversation in person with Sarah Vowell to be like, which is at times amazing but sometimes comes back to things talked about a bit earlier.
All in all, though, I really enjoyed this book. I could see myself reading it again and it really made me want to go back and visit the Islands again and learn more about their history. I just hope that when the book gets republished as a paperback, they include an index.
Rating: 4 out of 5
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