An extensively illustrated book that includes over 500 color images, Finding Paradise looks at period objects from Hawai'i as traditional, monarchical, territorial, and early statehood eras. It features paintings and painters; drawings; prints and printmakers; photographs and photographers; and "The Hawai'i One Hundred," a list of essential books printed before the end of the nineteenth century chosen to represent the history of Hawaiian discovery and nationhood. There are also chapters on surfing; the 'ukulele; the promotion of Hawai'i as an island "paradise" in printed materials and popular kitsch; the development of Hawaiian quiltmaking; sculpture; and decorative arts including ceramics, furniture, souvenir spoons, and jewelry.
Finding Paradise features objects selected from the holdings of numerous private collectors, many of which have never been seen by the public until now. They are discussed here in essays by both scholars and collectors, including DeSoto Brown, Bruce Erickson, Watters O. Martin, Jr., Derek McDonnell, Roger G. Rose, Jennifer Saville, Don R. Severson, and Loretta G. Woodard. Roger G. Rose, a historian of Hawaiian and Pacific culture, has also contributed an introductory essay on collectors and collecting. From browser to researcher, anyone with an interest in Hawai'i and Hawaiiana will find this handsome book to be an invaluable aid to understanding Island culture.