It seems that Bennert studied 20th century Hawaii and its history with Leporacy--as well as histroy of the Japanese in American internment camps. I do think he was compelled to write a book about the human rights violations in those situations.Unfortuately he needed a good editor to help him reduce the novel by about a third by tightening up the prose and improving his style. The editor would also need to encourage Bennert to give his characters life. The characters seemed very cardboard to me. Lots of them propped around the island to let us know the history--but not to make us feel like they are living beings. Very disappointing execution of an interesting subject.