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Many think of 1776 as the most defining calendar year of American record, the entire year we became a land specialized in the pursuit of pleasure through self-government. In New Fishes, Sarah Vowell argues that 1898 might be considered a year just as imperative to our nation's identity, per annum when, in an orgy of imperialism, america annexed Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Guam, and invaded Cuba and then your Philippines, learning to be a meddling, self-serving, militaristic international superpower almost overnight. Of all countries america invaded or colonized in 1898, Vowell considers the story of the Americanization of Hawaii to be the most intriguing. From the arrival of the New Britain missionaries in 1820, who came up to Christianize the local heathen, to the coup d'état led by the missionaries' sons in 1893, overthrowing the Hawaiian queen, the incidents leading up to American annexation include a cast of beguiling, if often appalling or tragic, individuals. Whalers who'll flames cannons at the Bible-thumpers denying them their god-given right to whores. An incestuous princess pulled between her new god and her brother-husband. Sugar barons, con men, Theodore Roosevelt, and the previous Hawaiian queen, a songwriter whose sentimental ode "Aloha 'Oe" serenaded the first Hawaii-born chief executive of america during his 2009 inaugural parade. With Vowell's brand wry insights and reporting, she sets out to find the unusual, emblematic, and exceptional record of the 50th point out. In examining where Manifest Destiny got a sunburn, she detects America again, warts and all. Read by the writer a cast that includes Fred Armisen, Bill Hader, John Hodgman, Catherine Keener, Edward Norton, Keanu Reeves, Paul Rudd, Maya Rudolph, and John Slattery. Music by Michael Giacchino with Grant Lee-Phillips. The report is made up of excerpts from "Hawai'i Pono'i" (words by David Kalakaua and music by Henri Berger) performed by Grant-Lee Phillips.
