This textbook is in its fourth edition. Originally published in 1980, it has routinely been updated to incorporate new and relevant materials related to ancient Hawai‘i. The book written at 4th grade readability and provides strong graphic visuals to balanced the text. The current edition incorporates ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i throughout to provide a greater equitable balance to language and cultural identity.
The content combines perspectives of science and anthropology, along with a Hawaiian historical, and modern, sense of place and oral traditions to help detail the history of island creation, myth, migration, environment, human settlement, use of natural resources, systems of governance, community, and more.