At Long Last: Hawaiian Overthrow Episode

# Summary

Josh and Chuck dive into the fascinating and troubling history of how Hawaii, a sovereign kingdom with centuries of indigenous rule, was overthrown by American and European business interests in 1893. The episode traces Hawaii's journey from the arrival of James Cook through the reign of various Hawaiian monarchs, showing how disease, weapons, missionary influence, and commercial interests—particularly the sugar trade—gradually eroded Hawaiian sovereignty until a group of white businessmen called the Committee of Safety essentially staged a coup, backed by American military forces, to depose Queen Lili'uokalani and establish their own provisional government. It's a story of how money, power, and imperial ambition dismantled an entire nation from within.