Category: Autobiography & Biography

A Memoir of World War II Interment in the Philippines

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Child of WarHours after attacking Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Japanese bombers stormed across the Philippine city of Baguio, where seven-year-old Curt Tong, the son of American missionaries, hid with his classmates in the woods near his school. Three weeks later, Curt, his mother, and two sisters were among the nearly five hundred Americans who surrendered to the Japanese army in Baguio. Child of War: A Memoir of World War II Internment in the Philippines is Tong’s touching story of the next three years of his childhood as he endured fear, starvation, sickness, and separation from his father while interned in three different Japanese prison camps on the island of Luzon. Written by the adult Tong looking back on his wartime ordeal, it offers a rich trove of memories about internment life and camp experiences.

“This unique work, a memoir written in a retrospective fashion through the eyes of a child, offers an alternate view of events surrounding the World War II internment of American civilian families by the Japanese. A pre-teen sees different aspects of life in an internment camp which adults may not notice or attach significance to, and yet they tell volumes about camp conditions, the tenor of Japanese treatment, and the nature of the various Japanese commandants. Anyone interested in issues of internment would find this rich and unusual cache of memories eye-opening.” —Frances B. Cogan, author of Captured: The Japanese Internment of American Civilians in the Philippines, 1941–1945

October 2010 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3539-2 / $27.00 (PAPER)

Korean Adoptees and Their Journey toward Empowerment

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The Dance of IdentitiesKorean adoptees have a difficult time relating to any of the racial identity models because they are people of color who often grew up in white homes and communities. Biracial and nonadopted people of color typically have at least one parent whom they can racially identify with, which may also allow them access to certain racialized groups. When Korean adoptees attempt to immerse into the Korean community, they feel uncomfortable and unwelcome because they are unfamiliar with Korean customs and language. The Dance of Identities, by John D. Palmer, looks at how Korean adoptees “dance,” or engage, with their various identities (white, Korean, Korean adoptee, and those in between and beyond) and begin the journey toward self-discovery and empowerment.

Intersections: Asian and Pacific American Intercultural Studies
October 2010 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3371-8 / $49.00 (CLOTH)

Talking Hawaii’s Story Readings to Air

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Talking Hawaii's StoryPaired readings from Talking Hawaiʻi’s Story: Oral Histories of an Island People, edited by Michi Kodama-Nishimoto, Warren Nishimoto, and Cynthia A. Oshiro, and Bamboo Ridge Press titles will air as a two-part program on September 7 and 14, at 6:30 pm, on “Aloha Shorts,” KIPO 89.3 FM. The readings were taped live at the fifth annual Hawai‘i Book and Music Festival on May 16, 2010.

Talking Hawai‘i’s Story at Pohai Nani Auditorium

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Talking Hawaii's StoryTalking Hawaiʻi’s Story: Oral Histories of an Island People editors Michi Kodama-Nishimoto and Warren Nishimoto of the University of Hawai‘i’s Center for Oral History will speak at the Pohai Nani Auditorium (45-090 Namoku Street, Kaneohe) on Tuesday, July 6, from 7 to 8 pm.

The program will include book readings, presented by storyteller Nyla Fujii-Babb and UH English professor Craig Howes, followed by a question-and-answer session. Fujii-Babb will read Edith Anzai Yonenaka’s narrative, “Recollections from the Windward Side,” and Howes will read Alfred Preis’ compelling chapter, ‘Interned: Experiences of an ‘Enemy Alien.’”

The talk and reading is the third event in the Pohai Nani Retirement Community’s Yamashita Lecture Series on Hawaiʻi. The program is free and open to the public. Books will be available for purchase from UH Press.

For more information on the event, contact Carolyn Nakamura, Pohai Nani’s resident services coordinator, at (808) 236-7805.

Heenan Interview on BlogTalkRadio

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BlogTalkRadio’s “Today on Your Brand with Joanne McCall” features an interview with David Heenan, author of Bright Triumphs From Dark Hours: Turning Adversity into Success:

“At a time when owning a small business resembles a roller-coaster ride on the way down, the stories in this book are instructive and offer suggestions on how we can overcome life’s darkest hours. We’ll discuss the six principles David uncovered as he interviewed each of the 10 extraordinary individuals featured in Bright Triumphs.”

Click here to listen to the interview.

Bright Triumphs and Chinese Pioneer Families Authors in the News

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Hawaii Public Radio interviewed David Heenan, the author of Bright Triumphs From Dark Hours: Turning Adversity into Success. Click here to listen.

Ken Yee, editor of Chinese Pioneer Families of Maui, Molokai, and Lanai, published in October 2009 by the Hawaii Chinese History Center and distributed by UH Press, was also recently interviewed on KHPR. Click here to listen. Earlier this week, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin featured Yee and his book (as well as an excerpt). Click here to read the article.

Book Launch and Reading for Talking Hawaii’s Story

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Talking StoryA book launch and reading for Talking Hawai‘i’s Story: Oral Histories of an Island People, edited by Michi Kodama-Nishimoto, Warren S. Nishimoto, and Cynthia A. Oshiro, is scheduled for Sunday, October 18, 2009, 2:00-3:30 pm, at the School of Architecture Auditorium, University of Hawai‘i, Mānoa. The reading will be directed and produced by Aloha Shorts. Light refreshments and free on-campus parking will be available.

This event is sponsored by the Center for Oral History, the Center for Biographical Research, and the Hawai‘i Council for the Humanities. For more information, contact the Center for Oral History (phone: 956-6259 or email: wnishimo@hawaii.edu) or the Center for Biographical Research (phone: 956-3774 or email: biograph@hawaii.edu).

Talking Hawai‘i’s Story is published by University of Hawai‘i Press for the Center for Oral History and Center for Biographical Research.

Damien by Aldyth Morris Back in Print

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“A moving, theologically perceptive monologue delivered by Father Damien. In fervent, plain-spoken language, Morris’ play evokes the strength and spirituality of this complex man of God whose life of service to ‘a festering mass of flesh’ was assailed by contemporary detractors and also by his own inherently self-doubting nature.” —Booklist

The acclaimed Hawai‘i Public Television production of Morris’ play, starring Terence Knapp as Father Damien, received a Peabody Award in 1978.

Also available from University of Hawai‘i Press:

“Holy Man: Father Damien of Molokai by Gavan Daws

“May be the best biography of Damien yet written. Carefully researched and reported, the author’s fascination with the man and the disease is transmitted to the reader.” —Library Journal

Leper Priest of Molokai: The Father Damien Story by Richard Stewart
“Rather than portraying his subject as a plaster saint, Stewart provides a full-bodied portrait of an inspirational, yet admittedly flawed, human being.” —Booklist

Molokai by O. A. Bushnell
This absorbing historical novel set in the late 1800s in Kalaupapa, where Damien ministered, “searches the hearts of the doomed and damned with an intense compassion. The author has painted the background of his novel with a knowing brush. . . . A vivid experience for the reader.” —New York Times Book Review

Father Damien will be canonized on October 11, 2009.

Talking Hawaii’s Story

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Published for the Center for Oral History and the Center for Biographical Research, University of Hawai‘i, Talking Hawai‘i’s Story: Oral Histories of an Island People is the first major book in over a generation to present a rich sampling of the landmark work of Hawai‘i’s Center for Oral History. Twenty-nine extensive oral histories introduce readers to the sights and sounds of territorial Waikiki, to the feeling of community in Palama, in Kona, or on the island of Lana‘i, and even to the experience of a German national interned by the military government after Pearl Harbor. The result is a collection that preserves Hawaii’s social and cultural history through the narratives of the people who lived it—co-workers, neighbors, family members, and friends.

May 2009 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3390-9 / $19.00 (PAPER)

Begin Here Receives Honorable Mention for AAAS Book Award

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Begin Here: Reading Asian North American Autobiographies of Childhood, by Rocío G. Davis, will receive an Honorable Mention for the Association for Asian American Studies (AAAS) 2007 Literacy Studies Book Award. The award will be presented at this week’s AAAS Annual Meeting in Honolulu.

“Informed by the latest developments in postmodern and postcolonial autobiography theory, this vital work focuses on 50 autobiographies of childhood written by Asian Americans in North America. . . . Highly recommended.” —Choice

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)

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