[1][2] The book takes a humorous tone and examines the fulfillment of American imperialist manifest destiny at the end of the 19th century as America annexed Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Guam, and invaded Cuba, and the Philippines in 1898, in an attempt to become a global power.

Vowell then tells the story of the culture clash that ensued following Christian missionaries who then moved in swiftly to try to convert the laid back native Hawaiians to the American way.

In her Los Angeles Times review, Susan Salter Reynolds wrote of Vowell, "Her cleverness is gorgeously American: She collects facts and stores them like a nervous chipmunk, digesting them only for the sake of argument.

"[4] However, in the New York Times Book Review, Hawaii resident Kaui Hart Hemmings praised the author thus: "Vowell deftly summarizes complex events and significant upheavals, reducing them to their essence.

"[5] Although Dan Kois, writing for National Public Radio, felt that Vowell was "good at connecting the dots in ways that make history vivid for her readers," he found the book "glib" and the subject "so complicated that her anecdotal structure isn't quite up to the task."