Native Hawaiians continue to struggle for recognition as the indigenous people of the islands after missionaries and sugar planters gained control of Haw. land by deception and political power. History is written by the winners, it has been said. I write from the commoner Hawaiian point of view who struggles to understand the concepts of land ownership, money and wages, and the rejection of Native beliefs and values. After Captain Cook in 1978, the whalers came with their diseases. Missionaries came to instill Western religions and capitalism, gaining ownership of land from the monarchs and leaving Haw. in ignorant poverty. Today, Haw. seek Federal recognition of their status and rights. Sarah Vowell captured the facts in Unfamiliar Fishes. I capture the heart-rending confusion, struggle, defeats, victories, in my heavily-researched books. As half Native Hawaiian, I seek to create insight into the lives of indigenous peoples suffering from colonialism. Why are native ethos so rejected?