Volcanoes, Palm Trees, and Privilege

Volcanoes, Palm Trees And Privilege: Essays on Hawai'i explores what it means to be a white tourist in a seemingly paradisiacal land that has been formed, and largely destroyed, by white outsiders. Hawaiian history, pop culture, and contemporary affairs are woven with personal narrative in fifteen essays that examine how the touristic ideal of Hawai'i came to be, and what it "is," at its core. The book is a highly readable hybrid of the in-depth exploration of narrative journalism combined with the through-line of memoir. Prato first fell in love with Hawai'i when she was a teenager while her father was building a housing subdivision on Maui. Her relationship with the Islands was cemented into a soul connection when Hawai'i became a place of respite and salvation as Prato suffered the losses of her mother, father, and brother, leaving her bereft of family by the age of forty-four. As she became more aware of how white colonialism ravaged Native Hawaiian society-and that many Native Hawaiians are pushing for sovereignty-Prato found herself asking what it means that her love for the Islands was born out of the thing that destroyed them: a white mainlander buying and developing land. What does it mean that her continued tourism contributes to Native Hawaiians getting further and further from their land, their 'aina?Hawaiian history, pop culture, and contemporary affairs are woven with personal narrative in fifteen essays that examine how the touristic ideal of Hawai'i came to be, and what it "is," at its core. Prato explores the US military bombing of the island of Kaho'olawe, which she watched from her teen perch on southwest Maui as she tried to meet boys. Issues of land ownership and loss in The Descendants are compared to those in Prato's own family, The Brady Bunch serves as her lens for analyzing Hawaiian history, and Joan Didion's writing on the Kahala provides a roadmap when Prato returns to spread her father's ashes in Honolulu. The essays dissect the language, taxonomy, land and people of Hawai'i in a manner that is entertaining, illuminating, and at times heart-breaking. With a voice that is both conversational and confident, Prato's exploration of modern Hawai'i, and the injustices that have formed it, asks readers to analyze their own actions, decisions, and perceptions, not just of Hawai'i, but of any native culture the US has colonized.