Over the past century, the beauty and promise of paradise have made Waikiki one of the greatest resort destinations in the world. From the times of legend, to the times of kings, to the vacation hub of paradise, this book tells the story through compelling text and some 350 archival and contemporary illustrations.
A walk through this famous site from its pre-settlement day, when it was an uninhabited tropical lagoon, to the famous attack in 1941, on to the present where it has become an American icon visited by millions every year. --Amazon
Long before the infamous day of December 7, 1941 when Pearl Harbor was attacked, it was a tropical lagoon fed by streams that lowed down from the Ko'olau mountains used by the Hawaiian people as an extensive system of fishponds. In 1940, the U.S. headquartered its Pacific Fleet there, America was at war, and Hawai'i was at the helm as the central defense post of the Pacific. Pearl Images of an American Memorial is a photographic memorial documenting Pearl Harbor's past through violent attacks and years of reflection and repair. Filled with rare photographs, Pearl Harbor is shown as it once was, providing context to the events of the “date which will live in infamy.”