Julia Flynn Siler’s Lost Kingdom: Hawaii’s Last Queen, the Sugar Kings, and America’s First Imperial Adventure, published in 2012, explores past the life of Lili’uokalani and also focuses on the role that sugar production played in the rise of the white oligarchy that overthrew the monarchy. Siler begins her text discussing the role of Western influence with the Hawaiian Monarchy stating how Kamahameha I was able to unite the Hawaiian Islands under his rule with the aid of Western advisors and guns, foreshadowing the further involvement of American and European influence and power in Hawaii.
Siler also discusses the individuals that make up the white oligarchy, rather than just as a general group of men. This is important because it was a