THE SPELL OF HAWAII

Intended as a companion volume to The Hawaii Reader (1959), this is also comparable to Hawaii: A Literary Chronicle (p. 1103) and many of the selections are from the same sources (Stevenson's letter in defense of Father Damien; Michener's opener from his Hawaii). The pieces themselves are interesting enough, include eye-witness accounts from sailors (King on Cook's death), travelers (Mark Twain, Isabella Bird, Archibald Campbell), missionaries (Lucy Thurston), feature stories by Marquand, Stevenson, Burdick--all of which give a sense of the islands. Pleasurable, but the Lee book. A Literary Chronicle, has more center and substance.