From King Cane to the Last Sugar Mill focuses on the technological and scientific advances that allowed Hawai'i's sugar industry to become a world leader and Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company (HC&S) to survive into the twenty-first century. The authors, both agricultural scientists, offer a detailed history of the industry and its contributions, balanced with discussion of the enormous societal and environmental changes due to its aggressive search for labor, land, and water. Sugarcane cultivation in Hawai'i began with the arrival of Polynesian settlers, expanded into a commercial crop in the mid-1800s, and became a significant economic and political force by the end of the nineteenth century. Hawai'i's sugar industry entered the twentieth century heralding major improvements in sugarcane varieties, irrigation systems, fertilizer use, biological pest control, and the use of steam power for field and factory operations. By the 1920s, the industry was among the most technologically advanced in the world. Its expansion, however, was not without challenges. Hawai'i's annexation by the United States in 1898 invalidated the Kingdom's contract labor laws, reduced the plantations' hold on labor, and resulted in successful strikes by Japanese and Filipino workers. The industry survived the low sugar prices of the Great Depression and labor shortages of World War II by mechanizing to increase productivity. The 1950s and 1960s saw science-driven gains in output and profitability, but the following decades brought unprecedented economic pressures that reduced the number of plantations from twenty-seven in 1970 to only four in 2000. By 2011 only one plantation remained. Hawai'i's last surviving sugar mill, HC&S--with its large size, excellent water resources, and efficient irrigation and automated systems--remained generally profitable into the 2000s. Severe drought conditions, however, caused substantial operating losses in 2008 and 2009. Though profits rebounded, local interest groups have mounted legal challenges to HC&S's historic water rights and the public health effects of preharvest burning. While the company has experimented with alternative harvesting methods to lessen environmental impacts, HC&S has yet to find those to be economically viable. As a result, the future of the last sugar company in Hawai'i remains uncertain.

Hawaii's sugar industry enjoyed great success for most of the 20th century, and its influence was felt across a broad spectrum: economics, politics, the environment, and society. This success was made possible, in part, through the liberal use of Hawaii's natural resources. Chief among these was water, which was needed in enormous quantities to grow and process sugarcane. Between 1856 and 1920, sugar planters built miles of ditches, diverting water from almost every watershed in Hawaii. "Ditch" is a humble term for these great waterways. By 1920, ditches, tunnels, and flumes were diverting over 800 million gallons a day from streams and mountains to the canefields and their mills. Sugar Water chronicles the building of Hawaii's ditches, the men who conceived, engineered, and constructed them, and the sugar plantations and water companies that ran them. It explains how traditional Hawaiian water rights and practices were affected by Western ways and how sugar economics transformed Hawaii from an insular, agrarian, and debt-ridden society into one of the most cosmopolitan and prosperous in the Pacific.

This full-color guidebook includes vibrant photos and easy-to-use maps to help with trip planning. Virgin Islands resident Susanna Henighan Potter offers firsthand knowledge of everything this paradise has to offer, from St. Croix to St. Thomas and Tortola. Potter guides readers to the most thrilling hikes in St. John's Virgin Islands National Park, the best snorkeling spots in Cruz Bay, and the most exciting carnivals and festivals on Virgin Gorda. Including unique trip strategies such as "Family Fun on St. John," "Sunken Ships and Plantations Past," and "Caribbean Life: Authentic St. Croix," Moon U.S. & British Virgin Islands gives travelers the tools they need to create a more personal and memorable experience.

Throughout the Third World, rural people must leave their homes in ever greater numbers to seek temporary work in urban centers, in distant rural areas, or across international borders. This temporary labor migration, less an option than a necessity for many, is symptomatic of rural stagnation and increasing economic dependence and is most prevalent in regions where the base for agricultural development is poor. Searching for Rural Development addresses the critical question of how rural development strategies can help provide more secure livelihoods for the millions who are now unable to sustain themselves and their families in local communities. Focusing on Mexico, Merilee S. Grindle examines how rural families adapt to the paucity of local employment opportunities by pursuing complex strategies of income diversification. She assesses various options for creating jobs in rural and semirural areas and considers how recommended rural development policies can be implemented through the political process.

Elusive Empire is the first full account of how during 1670 and 1730 French settlers came to the Americas. It examines how they and thousands of African slaves together with Amerindians constructed settlements and produced and traded commodities for export. Bringing together much new evidence, the author explores how the newly constructed societies and new economies, without precedent in France, interacted with the growing international violence in the Atlantic world in order to present a fresh perspective of the multifarious French colonizing experience in the Americas.