The White King

YOUNG DR. GERRIT JUDD was not a pious man, but when a group of missionaries set sail for Hawaii in 1827 Judd impulsively decided to join them, feeling that he could be useful inmending bodies while the missionaries mended souls. But he was a bachelor and only married men were permitted to go. He promptly solved the problem by persuading Laura, a girl he hardly knew, to marry him at once, and they set sail for Hawaii.
The years that followed were exciting ones. They reveal Laura's and Gerrit's own love story and tell how the Judds became affliated with the distinguished Hiram Bingham; how Judd's skill as a physician made up for his indifference to sermons and won not only the whites but the nativeseven the King; and how the King, to combat pressure from France and England,made Judd virtual prime minister.
Throughout these years there were also friction among the missionaries,the constant battle against disease or threat of plague, and the simple elemental obligation to support his growing family to keep "the White King" busy.
It was a life only the strongest could have lived. And in the telling Samuel Harrison has contributed another arresting figure to the gallery of great Americans.