Download or read book The Spell of Hawaii written by Arthur Grove Day and published by New York : Meredith Press. This book was released on 1968 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The magic islands of Hawaii are endowed with an extraordinary literary heritage, from the legends of the ancient Polynesians and the logs of voyagers to stories by some of the great writers of our time. This rich collection complements A Hawaiian Reader, published in 1959. The twenty-four selections the editors have chosen are representative of the best literature of Hawaii, providing at the same time a vivid chronicle of the islands' history. Beginning with James A. Michener's recounting of the volcanic birth of the beautiful islands, the book traces Hawaii's history through accounts of the reign of the celebrated Kamehameha I and other monarchs, and selections from the journals of missionaries who ventured among the pagan islands. Here also is Blake Clark's diverting adaptation of a sailor's journal of the 18th century, "Impressions of Honolulu" by the intrepid Isabella Bird, written in 1873, and first-rate works of fiction by such writers as J. P. Marquand, Robert Louis Stevenson and Eugene Burdick. Although some of the selections were written nearly two hundred years ago, only minor changes have been made to modernize punctuation and spelling. Thus the editors have preserved the true flavor of the original works, capturing the aura of excitement and enchantment that has surrounded the islands throughout the years."--Dust jacket.