Features objects and artworks in American private collections, from pre-Western contact to statehood. Provides extensive coverage of indigenous art forms, post-contact paintings and painters, prints and printmakers, photographers and photography, and a valuable discussion of the one hundred essential books published about the islands before the end of the ninteenth century. There are also essays on surfing, the ukulele, the promotion of Hawaii as an island "paradise", and the development of the Hawaiian quiltmaking tradition, as well as sculpture and decorative arts including ceramics, furniture and jewelry. Winner of 2 awards from the Hawaii Book Publishers' Association, for Excellence in Production and Best Illustrative or Photographic Book. Hardcover, 396 pages wiwth over 500 color illus., 2002. ISBN 0-937426-55-5