This book tells the story of pre-Western-contact Hawaii in three parts: early settlement by ca. 12th century Polynesians, gradual development of complex intensive agriculture culminating in bureaucratic land reform, and the 16th century shift from close-knit clans and chiefdoms to stratified palace economies. Because the Hawaiians hadn't developed a system of writing, it's technically a prehistory that relies on archaeological evidence and the Mo'olelo tradition of oral history. My goal in reading it was to get a broad overview of Hawaiian history and to develop a rudimentary ability to connect places, names, and phenomena I encounter in person to a historical narrative. On that front it definitely succeeded.

The most interesting/surprising part of the book is how Kirch synthesizes what we know about ancient Hawaii into a case study of Archaic state formation. The Hawaiian kingdoms that emerged in the 1500s had divine kingship, royal incest, economies structured around public irrigation projects and prestige foods, human sacrifice cults, and expansionist warfare. These traits are shared broadly with the early civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, bronze age Greece, China, etc. But unlike those examples, the Hawaiian states developed in total isolation after several hundred years living in relatively unhierarchical agrarian clans. Thus, one can't argue that a neighbor or external forces catalyzed the transition. Kirch is a bit wishy-washy about naming causes, but it seems that population growth drove intensified agriculture that precipitated top-down land management and allowed powerful chiefs to concentrate power and form a separate social stratum. Along side this was a soup of small but important factors including tribal warfare & traditional status-signaling luxury goods

Lastly, a minor annoyance: Kirch intersperses the historical narrative with personal recollections of his life growing up in Hawaii and archaeological research. Sometimes it's genuinely interesting to read how the sausage gets made, and I can also recognize that Hawaiian culture places importance on one's connection to specific places -- particularly sensitive given the colonial legacy -- but much of it was mildly tedious, especially when he lists (name-drops?) his colleagues. I would have appreciated a slimmed-down volume with more about Hawaii and less about Patrick Vinton Kirch.