In Native Land and Foreign Desires: Pehea Lā E Pono Ai?, Lilikala Kame’eleihiwa, a rigorous scholar and an impassioned writer, presents the first detailed analysis of the Mahele from a contemporary Hawaiian perspective. Her fascinating account of this pivotal period in the history of Hawai’i is bound to stir public debate. Using Hawaiian language sources, Kame’eleihiwa analyzes the traditional Hawaiian relationship, both spiritual and political, to the land. She traces the changes in that relationship, through Christian conversion and American colonization, to explain how Hawaiian land was wrongfully taken from Chiefs as well as commoners. With an admirable commitment to her people’s future as well as past, Kame’eleihiwa follows in the illustrious tradition of the nineteenth century Hawaiian intellectuals David Malo, Jon Papa ‘I’i, and Samuel Kamakau. Her work, in turn, will provide historians of the twenty-first century with endless material for reflection and interpretation.