anybody going to vacation there is Michener's Hawaii. You can take some of it with a grain of salt of course, but he always researched his novels quite well and served in the Navy in WWII traveling extensively. (His Tales of the South Pacific is good, too.)

The book Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq by Stephen Kinzer while not about Hawaii per se, has an excellent chapter on the US-supported coup to remove the Hawaiian monarchy. If you go there it's worth taking a break from the maitais to visit the Iolani Palace in Honolulu where you can learn a lot. Hawaii has an intricately layered history with the arrival of the Polynesians in the double-hulled canoes, to the European traders, the American whalers and missionaries, the Chinese, the Japanese, and the Filipinos. All those cultural influences are present.

Naturally Pearl Harbor us a must see even if you know all about it. A hike up Diamond Head is fun and it contains the remnant of a US Army fire control station. Also if you brave the road to Hana on Maui you might be surprised to find Charles Lindbergh's burial spot. The geology is even interesting. There's a remnant of a volcanic eruption near La Peruse Bay that I assumed had happened perhaps 50-75 years ago. But I later found out the lava field is over 200 years old, one of the last big eruptions from the Haleakala volcano that dominates the island and creates a rain shadow for nearby uninhabited Kahoolawe making that island very dry.

I know nerdy stuff. Most people just go there to drink and lay in the sun. It's great for that, too, obviously!