Book Review: The Book of Tiki
The Cult of Polynesian Pop in Fifties America
Tanya A. Brown

Buy the sucker from Amazon.com

The Book of Tiki is one of those books that you don't realize that you've been looking for all of your life until - one fateful day - you see it leering at you from a bookstore shelf.

How did I manage to live this long without seeing florid, flannel-suited 50's suburbanites make total asses of themselves at luaus? Was my existence truly complete before I saw a photo of a pancake house done up in Tiki regalia? Or admired the remnants of mugs made from the earthly - and plastic - incarnations of exotic gods?

Now I am ashamed at the depths of my ignorance. How could I have gone so long without understanding the far-reaching impact of this period on American history? For without the era of Tiki, there would be no rum-based drinks with little umbrellas. No marvelous Styrofoam Tiki heads at the local party store. No TV remote controls built to look like hula dancers, with strategically placed red buttons. Imagine a world without plastic leis. It's a sad thought, isn't it?

Almost as sad is the fact that the cult of Polynesian pop, one of America's finest cultural inventions, has all but died out, leaving only the occasional nightclub or palm-festooned apartment complex to mark its existence.

Thank goodness for people like Sven Kirsten, who has selflessly performed rigorous research into the topic and provided us with this scholarly tome. Old menus, matchbook covers, Tiki mugs, businessmen eyeing scantily clad wenches - it's all there in rich color.

Satisfyingly hefty, the book weighs in at a little under 300 whimsical pages and includes English, French, and German translations. An array of photos of hula females is included- some even topless. (Viewing pictures like this is one of the crosses a man must bear when he is a True Scholar.)

Sven's book is a thorough and whimsical treatment showing just how pervasive faux Polynesian culture was in 50's America. If you're a student of pop culture or the 50's, it is essential for your library. And even if it isn't, please buy it anyhow so I can get the minuscule referral fee to help defray the ISP charges for hosting this site.