Although little remains of Hawai'i's plantation economy, the sugar industry's past dominance has created the Hawai'i we see today. Many of the most pressing and controversial issues--urban and resort development, water rights, expansion of suburbs into agriculturally rich lands, pollution from herbicides, invasive species in native forests, an unsustainable economy--can be tied to Hawai'i's industrial sugar history.

Sovereign Sugar unravels the tangled relationship between the sugar industry and Hawai'i's cultural and natural landscapes. It is the first work to fully examine the...