A wide variety of products have been published about the Massie Case over the years. This page compiles and describes these secondary resources for people looking to learn more.

Recommended Resources

Local Story: The Massie-Kahahawai Case and the Culture of History (2014). Written by John P. Rosa. Book. Published by University of Hawaiʻi Press. A short book that focuses on various cultural elements of the Massie Case and time period in Hawaiʻi history.

Honor Killing: Race, Rape, and Clarence Darrow’s Spectacular Last Case (2005). Book. Written by David E. Stannard. Published by Viking Penguin then Penguin Books. A lengthy book that extensively covers the details of the Massie Case.

The Massie Affair, also called The Island Murder (April 18, 2005). Documentary. Produced by Mark Zwonitzer for American Experience (Season 17, Episode 08), in close collaboration with David Stannard. This documentary captures many of the practical details and key social implications surrounding the Massie Case.

“He Inherited The Very Same Name”: Remembering Joseph Kahahawai (January 5, 2024). Article and Radio Segment. Interview of Joy Kahahawai-Welch and Kim Farrant. Produced by Jo Corona. Published by StoryCorps. This StoryCorps radio segment and article include perspectives from two close family relatives of Joseph Kahahawai.

Extended Bibliography

Books

Pipe Dreams: The Dark Secret Behind Hawaii’s Most Notorious Crime (2020). John Madinger. Watermark Publishing.

What We Must Remember: Linked Poems (2017). Christy Passion, Ann Inoshita, Juliet S. Kono, and Jean Yamasaki Toyama, with an introduction by John P. Rosa. Bamboo Ridge Press.

A Death in the Islands: The Unwritten Law and the Last Trial of Clarence Darrow (2016). Mike Farris. Skyhorse Publishing.

Local Story: The Massie-Kahahawai Case and the Culture of History (2014). John P. Rosa. University of Hawaiʻi Press.

Honor Killing: Race, Rape, and Clarence Darrow’s Spectacular Last Case (2005). Written by David E. Stannard. Published by Viking Penguin then Penguin Books.

Hawaii Scandal (2002). Cobey Black. Island Heritage Publishing.

Damned in Paradise: A Nathan Heller Novel (1996). Max Allan Collins. Amazon Encore/Signet Book/University of Michigan.

Blood and Orchids (1983). Norman Katkov. Signet/NAL Books

Rape in Paradise (1966). Theon Wright. Hawthorne Books, Inc.

Something Terrible Has Happened: The account of the sensational Thalia Massie affair, which burst from prewar Hawaii to incense the nation (1966). Peter Van Slingerland. Harper and Row, Publishers.

The Massie Case: The Most Notorious Rape Case of the Century (1966). Peter Packer and Bob Thomas. Bantam Books.

Films/TV Episodes

The Massie Affair, also called The Island Murder (April 18, 2005). Produced by Mark Zwonitzer for American Experience (Season 17, Episode 08), in close collaboration with David Stannard.

A Crime to Remember

Blood and Orchids (1986). Screenwriting by Norman Katkov. Executive Production Supervisor: Edward O. Denault.

Articles

Katherine Clore

Podcasts

StoryCorps

Offshore

Theatrical Production

Massie/Kahahawai (2004). Written and produced by Dennis Carroll, originally for Kumu Kahua Theater.