In Nation Within Tom Coffman tells the complex history of the unsuccessful efforts of deposed Hawaiian queen Liliuokalani and her subjects to resist annexation, which eventually came in 1898. Coffman describes native Hawaiian political activism, the queen's visits to Washington, D.C., to lobby for independence, and her imprisonment, along with hundreds of others, after their aborted armed insurrection. Exposing the myths that fueled the narrative that native Hawaiians willingly relinquished their nation, Coffman shows how Americans such as Theodore Roosevelt conspired to extinguish Hawaii's sovereignty in the service of expanding the United States' growing empire.

A false spring -- Retrieving history -- Coping with great powers -- Roosevelt's frontier -- The queen's dilemma -- American expansionism -- A two-layered conspiracy -- Trade-off for Pearl Harbor -- An American coup -- Hawaiian resistance -- Battle on the Potomac -- A republic in name -- The Hawaiian revolt -- Conjuring the yellow peril -- The doorway to imperialism -- Hawaiin protests -- The treaty of annexation -- The queen in winter -- The Hawaiian petition -- Cuba and the Philippines -- Raising Old Glory.