Dr. Hyde and Mr. Stevenson;: The life of the Rev. Dr. Charles McEwen Hyde, including a discussion of the open letter of Robert Louis Stevenson

by Harold Winfield Kent

Documents the contributions of Dr. Charles Hyde to medicine in 19th-century Hawaii, along with his earlier life as a New England-bred zealot who was pilloried by writer Robert Louis Stevenson in his "Open Letter." In 390 pages with Index, this FIRST EDITION, First Printing hardcover with DJ, nicely protected in new archival mylar cover.

390 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1973

Reviews

[Tom Schulte · Rating 4 out of 5]

The role Dr. Hyde played in the history of Hawaii included setting up of the Kamehameha Schools, the Bishop Museum, and various other institutions sponsored by the philanthropist Charles Reed Bishop. He was a major force behind the establishment of the Hawaiian Historical Society, a moving spirit in the development of the Library of Hawaii, and the founder of the Social Science Association in 1882 for which he served as secretary for seventeen years. His career of industrious and piety during the Spanish-American War, Hawaii's awkward path away from monarchy, the effects of the Temperance Movement and more would be interesting enough but what may keep his name in history was his private noted made public characterizing Father Damien as being irksome, unprofessional, immoral, and even unkempt. The main point of this is that he was underserved of specifically being considered a savior of the lepers of Hawaii, let along saintly.

Like a 19th Century flame war, and tilting the argument from historical accuracy to a Catholic-Protestant spat, Robert Louis Stevenson used his literary skills and imagination to pen and widely disseminate a letter attacking Hyde in a fight he had not sought.

Taken in total, it does convince me here that Damien was not "all that" and indeed among the appendixes is an internal Catholic Church report in Dutton's Report on Father Damien that basically concurs with Hyde on the unprofessional, ineffective and even less-than-holy behavior Stevenson himself did not refute.