Historian Noelani Arista lays out aspects of her groundbreaking research on first contact between Euro-Americans and Hawaiians

Noelani Arista has received the prestigious 2010 Allan Nevins Prize from the Society of American Historians, a rare nod to a native American historian doing groundbreaking work on native history.  She won the prize for her doctoral dissertation from Brandeis University entitled, "Histories of Unequal Measure:  Euro-American Encounters with Hawaiian Governance and Law, 1793-1827".  Here, many eye openers in her lively reflections on the diversity of cultures in pre-contact Hawai'i, how some of that culture has been preserved, and the role of perception in shaping history.  Sample the thoughts of one 21st century Hawaiian.