Tom Coffman talked about his book Nation Within: The History of the American Occupation of Hawai'i (Koa Books; 2 edition, June 15, 2009). In the book he talks about how the U.S. obtained Hawaii and the resistance to annexation by the native population there. He dispelled myths about the 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian government and 1898 "annexation." Mr. Coffman read from his book and then was joined by Keanu Sai for discussion with the audience. One of the topics was the legal theory that in fact an annexation of Hawaii did not take place in 1898. They discussed how Mr. Coffman's acceptance of this led to his changing the subtitle of his book, which was The Story of America's Annexation of the Nation of Hawai'i in the first edition by Epicenter in December 2003. Topics included efforts to reform education on the history of Hawaii.

Mr. Coffman spoke at Native Books in Honolulu at 2:00 p.m. on August 16, 2009. August 21, 2009, marked the 50th anniversary of Hawaii's statehood.

Tom Coffman, former reporter for the Honolulu Advertiser and the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, is the author of Catch a Wave: A Case Study of Hawaii's New Politics and The Island Edge of America. He is an independent documentary writer and producer and his book Nation Within was made into a PBS documentary.