Author: stephchun

Kindle E-Books by Stuart M. Ball, Jr.

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Three books by Stuart M. Ball, Jr., are now available for Kindle readers:
Hikers Guide to Oahu
The Hikers Guide to O‘ahu, Revised Edition
Whether you are an experienced or novice hiker, you will benefit from the information in this guide. The author describes in detail 50 trails that will take you to O‘ahu’s lush valleys, spectacular waterfalls, and windswept ridges.

“The strength of Ball’s guides has always been his clear, detailed route descriptions. For example, when he says you’ll encounter a grove of ‘ohia trees three miles into a hike, you do.” —Honolulu Star-Bulletin

Hikers Guide to the Hawaiian Islands
The Hikers Guide to the Hawaiian Islands
Written in the same accessible style and format as the highly successful The Hikers Guide to O‘ahu, this volume is a detailed and fully illustrated guide to the best day hikes on the Big Island, Kaua‘i, Maui, and O‘ahu. Each island is represented by an equal number of hikes, 44 in all. Together they offer both resident and visitor alike the chance to explore some of Hawai‘i’s most spectacular scenery.

For each trip, the author provides detailed directions to the trailhead, a feature-by-feature description of the route, a topographic map keyed to the route description, and comments on common plants and animals, geological formations, historical sites, and other points of interest.

Backpackers Guide to Hawaii
The Backpackers Guide to Hawai‘i
This book will take you where few people go—to active volcanoes, lush valleys, cascading waterfalls, secluded beaches, and windswept ridges and sea cliffs.

“Included in each trip is helpful planning information, including directions for driving to the trail head, a step-by-step route description, length of trip, elevation gain and loss, and level of difficulty. . . . Detailed topographic maps show the route and are keyed to the trip description. . . . Specific and detailed directions are given for nearly every step, providing a sense of much-needed security for those hikers taking their first steps in Hawaii.” —Honolulu Star-Bulletin

Kindle E-Books by John R. K. Clark

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Three books by John R. K. Clark are now available for Kindle readers:
Beaches of Oahu
Beaches of O‘ahu, Revised Edition
Completely revised and updated, this edition of Beaches of O‘ahu offers sixty new color photos of the island’s spectacular beaches and coastline by photographer Mike Waggoner, a water safety section, and 22 newly drawn maps locating more than 130 beaches and shoreline parks.

“A must for Hawaii fans.” —Chicago Tribune

Hawai‘i Place Names
Hawai‘i Place Names: Shores, Beaches, and Surf Sites
Clark, the author of the highly regarded “Beaches of Hawai‘i” series, gives us the many captivating stories behind the hundreds of Hawai‘i place names associated with the ocean—the names of shores, beaches, and other sites where people fish, swim, dive, surf, and paddle.

“An awesome amount of work went into gathering the information for the 2,500 entries . . . and Clark deserves a big mahalo.” —Honolulu Advertiser

Guardian of the Sea
Guardian of the Sea: Jizo in Hawaii
Jizo, one of the most beloved Buddhist deities in Japan, is known primarily as the guardian of children and travelers. In coastal areas, fishermen and swimmers also look to him for protection.

“Through Clark’s meticulous documentation, we see the birth of an early culture, some of the more deadly shorelines of our state, an education on Buddhist religion, the art of fishing technique and some useful tips to avoid getting hurt in the water. Ambitious stuff for a book about statues.” —Honolulu Weekly

“John Clark has written a remarkable book about shoreline statues of Jizo, a Buddhist figure dedicated to our protection and enlightenment. Erected by issei, first-generation Japanese Americans, Jizo statues served as guardians of ulua fishermen casting in remote and dangerous coastal areas. John draws on interviews with more than three hundred individuals to document the location of these statues and in the process offers us a glimpse of the daily lives and spirituality of early Japanese Americans. We are indebted to him for making us aware of these Jizo monuments and their role in shaping Hawai‘i’s multicultural heritage.” —Dennis Ogawa, chair, American Studies Department, University of Hawai’i

Polynesia Events in October

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PolynesiaThe visual arts of Polynesia offer a richly diverse and relatively little known body of work, covering an enormous geographical area yet linked by shared artistic conventions. The collection of Mark and Carolyn Blackburn, one of the greatest private collections of Polynesian art in the world, encompasses this broad field of artistic endeavor. It features both ceremonial and functional traditional forms in diverse media, from delicate ivory ornaments and decorated barkcloth to formidable weaponry and imposing sculpture in coral, wood, and stone. In Polynesia: The Mark and Carolyn Blackburn Collection of Polynesian Art, by Adrienne Kaeppler, for the first time, these unique works of art are on display, fully described and annotated, for the enjoyment and appreciation of scholars, collectors, and interested readers alike. Celebrate the publication of this handsome volume, which features more than 800 color illustrations, this month at the following events:

Thursday, October 28, 6-8 p.m., Native Books/Na Mea Hawai‘i
Author Adrienne Kaeppler, curator of Oceanic ethnology at the Smithsonian, will give a talk on private collecting and be available to sign copies of her book. View demonstrations by cultural practitioners, and enjoy music and refreshments.

Saturday, October 30, 11-12 noon, Academy Shop, Honolulu Academy of Arts
Dr. Kaeppler will sign copies of Polynesia.

Sunday, October 31, 2-4 pm, East-West Center Gallery (Burns Hall, adjoining UH Manoa)
Dr. Kaeppler completes her visit to Honolulu with an illustrated lecture on Polynesia. Books will be available for purchase. Attendees are welcome to view the current gallery exhibition, Kyrgyzstan: Nomadic Life in the Modern World, and enjoy refreshments.

Learn more about Polynesia:
–Listen to an interview with collector Mark Blackburn on Radio Australia: Click here for the podcast.
–Read an article in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser: http://www.staradvertiser.com/features/20101024_book_celebrates_art_of_polynesia.html

October 2010 / ISBN 978-1-883528-38-6 / $100.00 (CLOTH) / ISBN 978-1-883528-40-9 / $150.00 (SLIPCASED)
Distributed for Mark and Carolyn Blackburn

Gods, Ghosts, and Gangsters

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Gods, Ghosts, and GangstersBased on fieldwork in China and Taiwan spanning nearly two decades, Gods, Ghosts, and Gangsters: Ritual Violence, Martial Arts, and Masculinity on the Margins of Chinese Society, by Avron Boretz, offers a thorough and original account of violent ritual and ritual violence in Chinese religion and society. Close-up, sensitive portrayals and the voices of ritual actors themselves—mostly working-class men, many of them members of sworn brotherhoods and gangs—convincingly link martial ritual practice to the lives and desires of men on the margins of Chinese society. This work is a significant contribution to the study of Chinese ritual and religion, the history and sociology of Chinese underworld, the history and anthropology of the martial arts, and the anthropology of masculinity.

“This is a magnificent exposition of a social world that was heretofore inaccessible to outsiders. Boretz provides both vivid description and insightful analysis of religion among the marginally criminal element in backwater areas of Taiwan, as well as among villagers in rural Yunnan. His presentation is lively, his mastery of the material is thorough, and his agile blend of relevant findings from anthropological and sinological literature makes this a delightful read.” —John McRae, Hachioji, Tokyo

“Gods, Ghosts, and Gangsters is among the best ethnographies of China I have ever read. It is a model of anthropological writing that is at once engaging as literature and theoretically sophisticated. The author’s deep and thorough engagement with the people whose experiences he analyzes has resulted in a fascinating study that contributes greatly to our understanding of Chinese society. The decision to undertake extensive—and difficult—field work in two remote regions of Taiwan and Yunnan suggests that the nexus of ritual, violence, and masculine identity extends through much of the Chinese cultural sphere. Riveting and pathbreaking, the ethnography is thick with detail that will be extremely important for scholars working on such diverse topics as ritual, martial arts history, the construction of masculinity, and Chinese father-son relations.” —Meir Shahar, Tel Aviv University, author of The Shaolin Monastery

October 2010 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3491-3 / $29.00 (PAPER)

Travel and Culture in Song China

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Transformative JourneysDuring the Song (960-1279), all educated Chinese men traveled frequently, journeying long distances to attend school and take civil service examinations. They crisscrossed the country to assume government posts, report back to the capital, and return home between assignments and to attend to family matters. Based on a wide array of texts, Transformative Journeys: Travel and Culture in Song China, by Cong Ellen Zhang, analyzes the impact of travel on this group of elite men and the places they visited.

“Transformative Journeys breaks new and important ground in a number of areas, but most importantly, it demonstrates the ubiquitous and influential role of travel in Song culture. Zhang’s command of the relevant primary sources is astounding; her scholarship is sound; and her findings are reasonable and convincing. Her book represents a major contribution to the field of China studies in general and Song dynasty studies in particular.” —James Hargett, SUNY Albany

October 2010 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3399-2 / $49.00 (CLOTH)

Natural Hazards, the Environment, and Hawaii’s Communities

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Living on the ShoresRarely a day goes by in Hawai‘i without the media reporting on environmental issues stemming from public debate. Will the proposed housing development block my access to the beach? Is the rising sea level going to cause flooding where I live? How does overfishing damage the reef? Is the water clean where I surf? Living on the Shores of Hawai‘i , by Charles Fletcher, Robynne Boyd, William J. Neal, and Virginia Tice, discusses the paradox of environmental loss under a management system considered by many to be one of the most stringent in the nation. It reviews a wide range of environmental concerns in Hawai‘i with an eye toward resolution by focusing on “place-based” management, a theme consistent with—and borrowing from—the Hawaiian ahupua‘a system.

A Latitude 20 Book
November 2010 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3433-3 / $27.99 (PAPER)

Resistance in Early Colonial Fiji

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Disturbing HistoryIn Disturbing History: Resistance in Early Colonial Fiji, 1874-1914, Robert Nicole focuses on Fiji’s people and their agency in responding to and engaging the multifarious forms of authority and power that were manifest in the colony from 1874 to 1914. By concentrating on the lives of ordinary Fijians, the book presents alternate ways of reconstructing the island’s past. Couched in the traditions of social, subaltern, and people’s histories, the study is an excavation of a large mass of material that tells the often moving stories of lives that have largely been overlooked by historians. These challenge conventional historical accounts that tend to celebrate the nation, represent Fiji’s colonial experience as ordered and peaceful, or British tutelage as benevolent. In its contribution to postcolonial theory, Disturbing History reveals resistance as a constant but partial and untidy mix of other constituents such as collaboration, consent, appropriation, and opportunism, which together form the colonial landscape. In turn, colonialism in Fiji is shown as a force shaped in struggle, fractured and often fragile, with a presence and application in the daily lives of people that was often chaotic, imperfect, and susceptible to subversion.

“Nicole’s work is original in the sense that no one else has pulled together in one place accounts of popular resistance and agency in the early decades of colonial Fiji. He expands what we know of the Colo War, the Tuka Movement, etc., thanks to his close reading of the archives.” —Lamont Lindstrom, professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Tulsa

October 2010 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3291-9 / $52.00 (CLOTH)

Reminiscences of a Century

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From OkinawaBetween 1889 and 1940 more than 40,000 Okinawan contract laborers emigrated to plantations in Hawaii, Brazil, the Philippines, and Peru. In 1912 seventeen-year-old Hana Kaneshi accompanied her husband and brother to South America and dreamed of returning home in two years’ time a wealthy young woman. Edited by her daughter Akiko, From Okinawa to the Americas, Hana’s richly detailed memoir, is a rare, first-hand account of the life of a female Okinawan immigrant in the New World. It spans nearly a century, from Hana’s early life in a small village not long after the Ryukyu Kingdom’s annexation to Japan; to a sugar plantation in Peru and its capital, Lima; to her dangerous trek through Mexico and the California desert to enter the U.S. and start a new life, this time in the Imperial Valley and finally Los Angeles. Hana’s story comes full circle when she returns briefly, after forty-seven years, to Okinawa during the postwar American Occupation.

“Hana Yamagawa’s book is full of stories of disappointment, loss, and struggle. But it is also inspiring: Hana is high-spirited and stubborn and truly a memorable character. Hers is a remarkable tale, told with honesty.”—Edith Kaneshiro, Department of History, National University of Singapore

Intersections: Asian and Pacific American Intercultural Studies
October 2010 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3551-4 / $25.00 (PAPER)

A Hermeneutics Reader

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Japan's FramesIn Japan’s Frames of Meaning: A Hermeneutics Reader, Michael F. Marra identifies interpretative concepts central to discussions of hermeneutical practices in Japan and presents English translations of works on basic hermeneutics by major Japanese thinkers. Discussions of Japanese thought tend to be centered on key Western terms in light of which Japanese texts are examined; alternatively, a few Buddhist concepts are presented as counterparts of these Western terms. Marra concentrates on Japanese philosophers and thinkers who have mediated these two extremes, bringing their knowledge of Western thought to bear on philosophical reinterpretations of Buddhist terms that are, thus, presented in secularized form.

Michael Marra is the author or editor of Representations of Power: The Literary Politics of Medieval Japan, Modern Japanese Aesthetics: A Reader, A History of Modern Japanese Aesthetics, Kuki Shuzo: A Philosopher’s Poetry and Poetics, and The Poetics of Motoori Norinaga: A Hermeneutical Journey.

October 2010 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3460-9 / $55.00 (CLOTH)

In Anticipation of Mark Twain’s Autobiography

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Letters from HawaiiNext month (November 15, to be exact), the much-anticipated first volume of The Autobiography of Mark Twain will be available from University of California Press.

What should you do in the meantime?

Read Mark Twain’s Letters from Hawaii! The 30-year-old Twain, who had not yet been outside the U.S., composed twenty-five travel letters for the Sacramento Union during his 4-month stay in the Sandwich Islands. A tireless sightseer, Twain went everywhere and wrote on whatever interested him: scenery and climate, politics, social conditions, Polynesian legends and lore, the monarcy, missionaries, business, and history. Letters and Twain’s Hawai‘i experiences opened the door to a new and lucrative profession for the writer—that of lecturer—and gave him material for a series of popular travel accounts that would culminate in his first important book, The Innocents Abroad.

Mark Twain’s Letters from Hawaii
Edited by A. Grove Day
ISBN 978-0-8248-0288-2 / $17.99 (PAPER)

Contemporary Polynesian Poetry in English

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Mauri OlaMauri Ola: Contemporary Polynesian Poems in English, edited by Albert Wendt, Reina Whaitiri, and Robert Sullivan, is a follow-up volume to the highly acclaimed Whetu Moana, the first anthropology of Polynesian poems in English edited by Polynesians. The new book includes poetry written over the last twenty-five years by more than eighty writers from Aotearoa, Hawai‘i, Tonga, Samoa, the Cook Islands, Niue, Tokelau, Tahiti, and Rotuma.

This anthology includes selections from poets including Tusiata Avia, Alistair Te Ariki Campbell, Rangi Faith, Sia Figiel, Imaikalani Kalahele, Brandy Nalani McDougall, Karlo Mila, J. C. Sturm, Robert Sullivan, Apirana Taylor, Konai Helu Thaman, Haunani-Kay Trask, Hone Tuwhare, Albert Wendt, and Wayne Kaumualii Westlake.

Albert Wendt’s most recent book, The Adventures of Vela, was awarded this year’s Commonwealth Writers’ Prize (Southeast Asia/Pacific region).

October 2010 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3541-5 / $26.00 (PAPER)

Honoring Nisei World War II Veterans

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Nisei VetsOn October 5, 2010, President Barack Obama signed legislation to grant the Congressional Gold Medal to the 100th Battalion, the 442nd, and the Military Intelligence Service. The law recognizes more than 6,000 Japanese-Americans born of immigrant parents who served the United States and fought in battles in Europe and Asia during World War II. About two-thirds of them were from Hawai‘i. Read the Honolulu Star-Advertiser article here.

Learn more about Hawai‘i’s famous “Go for Broke” soldiers of the 442nd and 100th with these popular titles from UH Press:

Unlikely LiberatorsUnlikely Liberators: The Men of the 100th and 442nd, by Masayo Umezawa Duus; translated by Peter Duus
“A fascinating and highly readable slice of history which should be told, and told repeatedly. If ever a group of Americans had been driven to the point of despair and rebellion, it was the Americans of Japanese ancestry during World War II. . . . Unlikely Liberators vividly portrays in remarkable realism the officers and men with whom I served. Every American should read Masayo Duus’ book to better understand the true spirit of America which sustains its greatness.” —former U.S. Senator Spark Matsunaga

Combat ChaplainCombat Chaplain: The Personal Story of the WWII Chaplain of the Japanese American 100th Battalion, by Israel A.S. Yost; edited by Monica E. Yost and Michael Markrich
In October 1943, twenty-seven-year-old combat infantry chaplain Israel Yost arrived in Italy with the 100th Battalion, a little-known National Guard unit of mostly Japanese Americans from Hawai‘i. Yost was apprehensive when he learned of his assignment to this unusual unit composed of soldiers with whom he felt he had little in common and who were mostly Buddhists. But this would soon change.

Japanese EyesJapanese Eyes… American Heart: Personal Reflections of Hawaii’s World War II Nisei Soldiers, edited by the Hawaii Nikkei History Editorial Board (distributed for the Tendai Educational Fund)
“It isn’t often that you come across a book that is on the one hand extremely easy to read, enjoyable and inspirational, while on the other hand deeply moving, oftentimes disturbing, and very emotional. Japanese Eyes . . . American Heart is all this and more. . . . The American niseis’ tales create a fascinating literary mosaic, one that is highly educational, highly inspirational, and highly recommended.” —Mainichi Daily News

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