Honor Killing: How the Infamous "Massie Affair" Transformed Hawai'i

In the fall of 1931, Thalia Massie, the bored, aristocratic wife of a young naval officer stationed in Honolulu, accused six nonwhite islanders of gang rape. The ensuing trial let loose a storm of racial and sexual hysteria, but the case against the suspects was scant and the trial ended in a hung jury. Outraged, Thali‛s socialite mother arranged the kidnapping and murder of one of the suspects. In the spectacularly publicized trial that followed, Clarence Darrow came to Hawa‛i to defend Thali‛s mother, a sorry epitaph to a noble career.

It is one of the most sensational criminal cases in American History, Stannard has rendered more than a lurid tale. One hundred and fifty years of oppression came to a head in those sweltering courtrooms. In the face of overwhelming intimidation from a cabal of corrupt military leaders and businessmen, various people involved with the case--the judge, the defense team, the jurors, a newspaper editor, and the accused themselves-refused to be cowed. Their moral courage united the disparate elements of the non-white community and galvanized Hawa‛‛s rapid transformation from an oppressive white-run oligarchy to the harmonic, multicultural American state it became.

Honor Killing is a great true crime story worthy of Dominick Dunne-both a sensational read and an important work of social history.

"This story has all the elements of the most salacious of true crime stories — rape, a contract killing, racism and two sensational trials just for starters. But the larger social-historical ramifications are significant and thought provoking. Stannard (American Holocaust: The Conquest of the New World), a professor of American studies at the University of Hawaii, places at the center of the tale wealthy debutante Thalia Massie, wife of naval officer Tommie, who moved with him to the 'Paradise of the Pacific' in the late 1920s to start married life. A wild child with a history of chain-smoking and hard drinking, Thalia was profoundly bored with the pace and atmosphere of the islands and carried on in a highly unsuitable manner. On a September night in 1931, after leaving a party for some fresh air, Thalia claimed to have been raped by a group of young islanders. Prejudices on both sides were inflamed, and their trial ended in a hung jury. Thalia's aristocratic mother, Grace Fortescue, then arranged the abduction and murder of one of the alleged rapists, and her legendary but unlikely legal defender was no less a figure than Clarence Darrow. Stannard's measured storytelling and meticulous research yield dividends for the reader, and chapter notes provide some of the most interesting tidbits. Agent, Susan Rabiner. (On sale Apr. 11)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

The author of "American Holocaust" reveals how Hawaii was transformed by the 1931 trial of a socialite mother, who arranged for the kidnapping and murder of a nonwhite islander accused of raping her daughter.

In the fall of 1931, Thalia Massie, the wife of a young naval officer stationed in Honolulu, accused six nonwhite islanders of gang rape. The ensuing trial let loose a storm of racial and sexual hysteria, but the case against the suspects was scant and the trial ended in a hung jury. Outraged, Thalia's socialite mother arranged the kidnapping and murder of one of the suspects. In the spectacularly publicized trial that followed, Clarence Darrow came to Hawai'i to defend Thalia's mother, a sorry epitaph to a noble career. As well as being Darrow's last case, the Massie trial was one of the most sensational criminal cases ever, but David Stannard's masterful account tells something more. In re-creating the explosive consequences of the trial, he reveals how the injustice united disparate elements of Hawai'is nonwhite community and precipitated its eventual over-throw of the white oligarchy that had dominated Hawai'i for decades. Hawai'i as it exists today--multicultural, socially tolerant, politically progressive--rose directly from the turmoil triggered by Thalia Massie's accusations. Honor Killing is a great true crime story worthy of Dominick Dunne--both a sensational read and an important work of social history.

David E. Stannard received his Ph.D. from Yale University and is a professor of American studies at the University of Hawa‛i. A Guggenheim, Rockefeller, and American Council of Learned Societies fellow and a widely recognized authority on Hawa‛ian history and culture, he has written five previous books, including American Holocaust: The Conquest of the New World.