Author: stephchun

One of 2008’s Most Memorable Books

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Who Owns the Crown Lands of Hawai‘i, Jon Van Dyke’s history of ceded lands following the 1846–1848 Mahele, is one of the “Most Memorable Books of 2008,” according to the Honolulu Advertiser’s Christine Thomas:

“In support of his assertion that ‘Crown Lands should once again be managed by and for the Native Hawaiian People,’ Van Dyke details their intricate history and legal status, laying a remarkably clear and completely captivating path of understanding. He effortlessly navigates such complex intersections as Hawaiian concepts of land tenure and smartly steers past such disputes as the role of ali’i in a new Hawaiian Nation to elucidate and persuasively affirm the Crown Lands’ unique status so they can be more effectively restored to their intended purpose and beneficiaries.”

Poems by Wayne Kaumualii Westlake

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In an all-too-brief life and literary career, Wayne Kaumualii Westlake produced a substantial body of poetry. He broke new ground as a poet, translated Taoist classical literature and Japanese haiku, interwove perspectives from his Hawaiian heritage into his writing and art, and published his work locally, regionally, and internationally. Westlake: Poems by Wayne Kaumualii Westlake (1947–1984) includes nearly two hundred of Westlake’s poems—most unavailable to the public or never before published.

“The poems run the whole gamut of emotions . . . and do so with immaculate and measured control of language and imagery . . . [T]his one collection, in my reckoning, establishes Westlake as one of Hawai‘i and the Pacific’s major poets.” —Albert Wendt

Talanoa: Contemporary Pacific Literature
January 2009 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3067-0 / $17.95 (PAPER)

Chinese Intergenerational Relations in Modern Singapore

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Since gaining independence in 1965, Singapore has become the most trade-intensive economy in the world and the richest country in Southeast Asia. This transformation has been accompanied by the emergence of a deep generational divide. More complex than simple disparities of education or changes in income and consumption patterns, this growing gulf encompasses language, religion, and social memory. The Binding Tie: Chinese Intergenerational Relations in Modern Singapore, by Kristina Göransson, explores how expectations and obligations between generations are being challenged, reworked, and reaffirmed in the face of far-reaching societal change.

Southeast Asia: Politics, Meaning, and Memory
January 2009 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3352-7 / $26.00 (PAPER)

A Japanese Robinson Crusoe

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First published in 1898 and long out of print, A Japanese Robinson Crusoe, by Jenichiro Oyabe, (1867–1941) is a pioneering work of Asian American literature. It recounts Oyabe’s early life in Japan, his journey west, and his education at two historically Black colleges, detailing in the process his gradual transformation from Meiji gentleman to self-proclaimed “Japanese Yankee.” Like a Victorian novelist, Oyabe spins a tale that mixes faith and exoticism, social analysis and humor. His story fuses classic American narratives of self-creation and the self-made man (and, in some cases, the tall tale) with themes of immigrant belonging and “whiteness.” Although he compares himself with the castaway Robinson Crusoe, Oyabe might best be described as a combination of Crusoe and his faithful servant Friday, the Christianized man of color who hungers to be enlightened by Western ways.

“This is a fascinating memoir by a young Japanese who spent thirteen years (1885–1898) traveling to all parts of the world: the Kurile islands, China, Okinawa, Hawaii, the United States, Britain, Portugal, etc., before returning to his native country as a teacher and a Christian minister. Few in the world, least of all Japanese, would have seen so much of the world on their own. What he saw—and, even more revealing, how he described what he saw—adds to our understanding not only of late nineteenth-century Japan’s encounter with distant lands, in particular the United States, but also of the history of international travels, a history that constitutes an essential part of the phenomenon of globalization.” —Akira Iriye, Harvard University

Intersections: Asian and Pacific American Transcultural Studies
January 2009 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3247-6 / $28.00 (PAPER)

From Enlightenment Ideals to Socialist Realities

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The idea of eliminating undesirable traits from human temperament to create a “new man” has been part of moral and political thinking worldwide for millennia. During the Enlightenment, European philosophers sought to construct an ideological framework for reshaping human nature. But it was only among the communist regimes of the twentieth century that such ideas were actually put into practice on a nationwide scale. In Creating the “New Man”: From Enlightenment Ideals to Socialist Realities, Yinghong Cheng examines three culturally diverse sociopolitical experiments—the Soviet Union under Lenin and Stalin, China under Mao, and Cuba under Castro—in an attempt to better understand the origins and development of the “new man.”

“There is no comparative study of the critically important and remarkably similar ‘new man’ creation programs of China and Cuba that is comparable in insights to this one. But this book speaks to still wider audiences, from students of the Marxist and other dogmatic, utopian ideologies that have so often consumed the resources and lives of people worldwide throughout the history of mankind, to analysts of development and anti-development experiences in general.” —William Ratliff, Stanford University

Perspectives on the Global Past
January 2009 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3074-8 / $60.00 (CLOTH)

Chinese Political Thought of the Warring States Era

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Envisioning Eternal Empire: Chinese Political Thought of the Warring States Era, by Yuri Pines, is an ambitious work that looks into the reasons for the exceptional durability of the Chinese empire, which lasted for more than two millennia (221 BCE–1911 CE). Pines identifies the roots of the empire’s longevity in the activities of thinkers of the Warring States period (453–221 BCE), who, in their search for solutions to an ongoing political crisis, developed ideals, values, and perceptions that would become essential for the future imperial polity. In marked distinction to similar empires worldwide, the Chinese empire was envisioned and to a certain extent “preplanned” long before it came into being. As a result, it was not only a military and administrative construct, but also an intellectual one. Pines makes the argument that it was precisely its ideological appeal that allowed the survival and regeneration of the empire after repeated periods of turmoil.

December 2008 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3275-9 / $55.00 (CLOTH)

The New Ethnic Community in Urban America

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Ethnoburb: The New Ethnic Community in Urban America, by Wei Li, is an innovative work that provides a new model for the analysis of ethnic and racial settlement patterns in the United States and Canada. Ethnoburbs—suburban ethnic clusters of residential areas and business districts in large metropolitan areas—are multiracial, multiethnic, multicultural, multilingual, and often multinational communities in which one ethnic minority group has a significant concentration but does not necessarily constitute a majority. Wei Li documents the processes that have evolved with the spatial transformation of the Chinese American community of Los Angeles and that have converted the San Gabriel Valley into ethnoburbs in the latter half of the twentieth century, and she examines the opportunities and challenges that occurred as a result of these changes.

December 2008 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3065-6 / $56.00 (CLOTH)

Choice Magazine’s Outstanding Academic Titles for 2008 Announced

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Each year Choice Magazine, the official publication of the Association of College and Research Libraries, compiles a distinguished list of Outstanding Academic Titles. The following three UH Press books were recognized for 2008. A complete list of titles will be available in Choice’s January 2009 issue.

Herself an Author: Gender, Agency, and Writing in Late Imperial China
by Grace S. Fong

“Takes the discussion in an exciting new direction. . . . The greatest contributions of this book . . . are the introductions of various women writers and the translations into English of their compositions, many discovered by the author and not heretofore translated into English. . . . Essential.” —Choice (November 2008)

Nippon Modern: Japanese Cinema of the 1920s and 1930s by Mitsuyo Wada-Marciano

“Since English-language scholars have rarely dealt with Japanese film of the 1920s and 1930s, outside the work of canonical directiors like Kenji Mizoguchi, this study is welcome. . . . Wada-Marciano offers groundbreaking analyses of such genres as the ‘middle-class’ film and the woman’s film. A final chapter provides a rich study of the links between national identity, modernity, and the signature style of Shochiku film studio. The end result is sure to stand as a definitive work for years to come. Essential.” —Choice (October 2008)

The Sociology of Southeast Asia: Transformations in a Developing Region by Victor T. King

“Victor King has produced a lucid, comprehensive, and challenging analysis of the state-of-the-art of Southeast Asian sociology. The book is not only an excellent textbook for courses on Southeast Asia or development sociology, but also ‘required reading’ for all social scientists embarking on research on the area. I am certain that it will become a long-lasting addition to the standard literature on Asia.” —Hans-Dieter Evers, University of Bonn

Japan’s Motorcycle Wars

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For decades a crown jewel of Japan’s postwar manufacturing industry, motorcycles remain one of Japan’s top exports. Japan’s Motorcycle Wars: An Industry History, by Jeffrey W. Alexander, assesses the historical development and societal impact of the motorcycle industry, from the influence of motor sports on vehicle sales in the early 1900s to the postwar developments that led to the massive wave of motorization sweeping the Asia-Pacific region today.

“Reading this book is a revelation and a thrill. It is an excellent example of business history done right. Alexander’s contribution here is thoroughly original; he gives us a rare look into the experiences of the losers as well as the winners in Japanese business. He will open the eyes of everyone in the field to the significance of the motorcycle industry on Japan’s economic and technological development.” —William Tsutsui, author of Manufacturing Ideology: Scientific Management in Twentieth-Century Japan

December 2008 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3328-2 / $28.00 (PAPER)

A Maritime History of the Pacific Peoples

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Written by Alastair Couper, a senior scholar and master mariner, Sailors and Traders: A Maritime History of the Pacific Peoples is the first comprehensive account of the maritime peoples of the Pacific. It focuses on the sailors who led the exploration and settlement of the islands and New Zealand and their seagoing descendants, providing along the way new material and unique observations on traditional and commercial seagoing against the background of major periods in Pacific history.

December 2008 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3239-1 / $55.00 (CLOTH)

Important Buddhist Scripture Now in Paperback

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The Suramgamasamadhisutra / The Concentration of Heroic Progress is an early Mahayana Buddhist scripture. Within a narrative framework provided by a dialogue between the Buddha and the bodhisattva Drdhamati, it airs central issues of Mahayana Buddhism by means of philosophical discussion, edifying anecdote, marvelous feat, and drama. At its core is a description of the seeming conversion of Mara, the embodiment of all malign tendencies that obstruct advancement, and the prediction that he too will become a Buddha.

The present volume comprises the first full English translation of Kumarajiva’s Chinese translation of the Suramgamasamdhisutra, with an extensive explanatory introduction and annotations. Etienne Lamotte’s French version appeared in 1965 and now Sara Boin-Webb’s English rendering of this work gives the English-speaking world access both to an important Buddhist scripture and a classic work of Buddhist studies scholarship.

“This English rendering has been done by Ms. Boin-Webb with the same deftness, accuracy, and attention to detail seen in her translations of Lamotte’s L’Enseignement de Vimalakirti and his Histoire du bouddhisme indien, des origines à l’ére Saka. . . . In French this book was a gem of thoroughgoing and wholly admirable scholarship. It is no less so in its English setting.” —Journal of the American Oriental Society

Published in association with The Buddhist Society, London (TBSLL)
November 2008 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3353-4 / $25.00 (PAPER)

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