UH Press

Fully Illustrated Look at the Plaited Arts in Everyday Life

Posted on June 1, 2012 by stephchun

Plaited Arts from the Borneo Rainforest, edited by Bernard Sellato, is the first comprehensive work of its kind and size. It promotes a “contextual” approach, combining not just botanical and technical, but also economic, social, and ritual elements. The twenty-one contributors are the world’s leading experts on the subject, scholars and artisans who live in Borneo or have spent many years there and have become deeply involved, on a personal and emotional level, with the people of the island and their cultures. They hail from ten different nations, including Malaysia and Indonesia, and from Borneo itself: Sarawak, Sabah, and Kalimantan. This beautifully illustrated, oversize volume includes more than 1,000 photographs, 930 in color.

May 2012 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3619-1 / $70.00 (CLOTH)

New, Updated Edition of Divorce with Decency

Posted on June 1, 2012 by stephchun

This completely revised and updated fourth edition of the award-winning Divorce with Decency: The Complete How-To Handbook and Survivor’s Guide to the Legal, Emotional, Economic, and Social Issues, by Bradley A. Coates, includes the most current research, statistics, and insights on the effects of divorce on spouses, their children, and society overall. Written by a prominent divorce lawyer with more than thirty years of experience, it is the most comprehensive treatment of the legal, emotional, economic, psychological, and social aspects of marital relationships and divorce available anywhere in a single volume.

“This is far more than just a divorce book. It’s an all encompassing survey of love, marriage, and romantic relationships in modern life.” —Judge Michael Town (retired), former Senior Judge of Hawai‘i’s First Circuit Family Court

May 2012 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3659-7 / $21.99 (PAPER)

Upcoming Author Events

Posted on May 24, 2012 by stephchun

Victoria Kneubuhl will discuss her two mystery novels, Murder Casts a Shadow and Murder Leaves Its Mark, at the Art Lunch event “The Unfamiliar Familiar, Homegrown Mystery,” hosted by the Hawai‘i State Foundation for Culture and the Arts, on Tuesday, May 29, 12-1 pm. For more information, go to http://www.state.hi.us/sfca/HiSAM_Events.html.

Kneubuhl will also discuss writing historical fiction at the Kapolei Library on Saturday, June 2, at 10:30 am. A drawing will be held for autographed copies of Murder Casts a Shadow and Murder Leaves Its Mark. Call 693-7050 for more information.

Victoria Kneubuhl’s books are available as eBooks at Amazon’s Kindle Store, Apple’s iBooks Store, and Google Play.

Stuart Ball will be participating in a National Trails Day celebration hosted by the Oahu Na Ala Hele Trails and Access Program at the Lyon Arboretum on Saturday, June 2. Ball will be at the gift shop from 1-3pm to sign copies of his latest book, Native Paths to Volunteer Trails: Hiking and Trail Building on O‘ahu, and his ever-popular The Hikers Guide to O‘ahu: Revised Edition. For more information go to http://ntd2012.blogspot.com/2012/05/hiking-expo-at-lyon-arboretum-full.html.

Stuart Ball’s hiking guides are available as eBooks at Amazon’s Kindle Store, Apple’s iBooks Store, and Google Play.

UH Press Around the Web

Posted on May 24, 2012 by stephchun

Jim Tranquada, co-author of this month’s The ‘Ukulele: A History, had a few things to say about Kevin Roderick’s post “In praise of Hawaii’s ukulele (via Portugal)” in LA Observed. Read Tranquada’s comments in Roderick’s follow-up post here. In his response, Tranquada specifically mentions errors in The Daily’s recent “Uke Can Do It Too.” Read The ‘Ukulele to get the real story!

Aborigial Art & Culture: An American Eye calls Minoru Hokari’s Gurindji Journey: A Japanese Historian in the Outback, a “wonderful, iconoclastic study.” Reviewer Will Owen recalls Hokari’s discussion of a Gurindji historical event, John F. Kennedy’s visit to Wave Hill Station in 1966, three years after Kennedy’s assassination: “[This] was better than picking up the latest Swedish crime thriller: I had to keep reading until I understood how Hokari was going to resolve this problem.” Owen concludes his review with:

“In writing this short review of Gurindji Journey, I have used the entertaining and perplexing instance of President Kennedy’s visit to Wave Hill to organize some aspects of Hokari’s story telling and analysis. In doing so, I have not done justice to the complexity and subtlety of his arguments, nor the richness of his immersion in Gurindji culture. But I hope that what I have written will entice you to pick up this unlikely entry in the literature of Indigenous studies written by a Japanese historian in the Outback.”

Gabe Baltazar Radio Interview and at the Hawaii Book and Music Festival

Posted on May 22, 2012 by stephchun

Gabe Baltazar Jr, whose autobiography If It Swings, It’s Music was published this month, was interviewed last March by Tucson jazz radio host Jake Feinberg. For some backstory on the interview, go to http://www.bonhawaii.com/legendary-sax-player-gabe-baltazar-worldwide-radio-show; for the interview, go to http://www.jakefeinbergshow.com/2012/03/jfs-65-the-gabe-baltazar-interview/.

Catch Gabe on YouTube reminiscing at this month’s Hawai‘i Book and Music Festival:

On meeting his idol, Charlie Parker: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XcdFbilqfs
On joining the Stan Kenton Orchestra: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agxiO2Gd19c

New Books in Buddhist Studies Podcasts

Posted on May 21, 2012 by stephchun

Listen to New Books Network podcasts featuring interviews with Press authors Hank Glassman, Bryan Cuevas, Lori Meeks, and Daniel Veidlinger: http://newbooksinbuddhiststudies.com/list/. New Books in Buddhist Studies presents discussions with scholars of Buddhism about their new books.

The New Books Network “is a consortium of podcasts dedicated to raising the level of public discourse by introducing serious authors to serious audiences.”

Hyperallergic on The Painted King and the Aim of Public Art

Posted on May 17, 2012 by stephchun

The Painted King: Art, Activism, and Authenticity in Hawai‘i is Glenn Wharton’s account of his efforts to conserve the Big Island’s Kamehameha statue, but it is also the story of his journey to understand the statue’s meaning for the residents of Kapa‘au. The book was the subject of a panel discussion at NYU last March, which was covered by Ben Valentine of the art blog Hyperallergic.

Wharton spoke briefly at the event, followed by invited experts of whom Valentine notes: “One speaker I especially enjoyed was Harriet Senie [professor of art history at CUNY Graduate Center]. Senie reminded the audience that the Lincoln Memorial was made to celebrate Lincoln uniting the union, but now has become a memorial for the end of slavery. A work’s meaning changes with context, and she celebrated Wharton for recognizing this in his conservation of the statue.”

In his book, Wharton sums up the experience: “[It] offered an opportunity for people who had never participated in public dialogue to express their opinions. Some suggested that this gave them experience and confidence to take civic action on issues such as unplanned development.” Valentine concludes: “I think this gets at the core of what much of public art aims to do—to remind us of history, to become a place for community to gather, remember the past and inspire the onlookers of today.”

Read the Hyperallergic post here: http://hyperallergic.com/48103/glenn-wharton-re-painting-a-king/

Japanese Cinema in the Digital Age

Posted on May 15, 2012 by stephchun

Digital technology has transformed cinema’s production, distribution, and consumption patterns and pushed contemporary cinema toward increasingly global markets. In the case of Japanese cinema, a once moribund industry has been revitalized as regional genres such as anime and Japanese horror now challenge Hollywood’s preeminence in global cinema. In Japanese Cinema in the Digital Age, a rigorous investigation of J-horror, personal documentary, anime, and ethnic cinema, Mitsuyo Wada-Marciano deliberates on the role of the transnational in bringing to the mainstream what were formerly marginal B-movie genres. She argues persuasively that convergence culture, which these films represent, constitutes Japan’s response to the variegated flows of global economics and culture.

May 2012 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3594-1 / $47.00 (CLOTH)

Early Chinese Military Texts from the Yi zhou shu

Posted on May 15, 2012 by stephchun

China’s Warring States era (ca. 5th–3rd century BCE) was the setting for an explosion of textual production, and one of the most sophisticated and enduring genres of writing from this period was the military text. Social and political changes were driven in large part by the increasing scope and scale of warfare, and some of the best minds of the day (including Sunzi, whose Art of War is still widely read) devoted their attention to the systematic analysis of all factors involved in waging war. Conquer and Govern, by Robin McNeal, makes available for the first time in any Western language a corpus of military texts from a long neglected Warring States compendium of historical, political, military, and ritual writings known as the Yi Zhou shu, or Remainder of the Zhou Documents.

May 2012 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3120-2 / $48.00 (CLOTH)

Autobiography of Jazz Musician Gabe Baltazar Jr.

Posted on May 15, 2012 by stephchun

Hawai‘i’s legendary jazz musician Gabe Baltazar Jr. has thrilled audiences since the late 1940s with his powerful and passionate playing. In If It Swings, It’s Music, the first book on his life and career, Gabe takes readers through the highs, lows, and in-betweens on the long road to becoming one of the very few Asian Americans who has achieved worldwide acclaim as a jazz artist.

“Gabe Baltazar is a living example of the rare Asian American jazz musician who enjoyed a national and international career, one that took place during an important transitional period when jazz was being transformed from a popular idiom into a bona fide tradition. His story provides insight into a real working jazz musician’s life with all its headaches, victories, defeats, and joys.” —Kevin Fellezs, Columbia University

May 2012 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3637-5 / $24.99 (PAPER)

UH Press Winners at 2012 Ka Palapala Pookela Awards

Posted on May 14, 2012 by stephchun

Mark Panek at KPP This year’s Ka Palapala Po‘okela Award winners were announced at last week Friday’s award ceremony. Congratulations to our authors Wendy S. Arbeit, John R. K. Clark, Mark Panek, and John E. Randall; and to distributed authors Angela K. Kepler and Francis G. Rust.

Winner for Excellence in Text or Reference and Honorable Mention for Excellence in Special Interest: Links to the Past: The Work of Early Hawaiian Artisans, by Wendy S. Arbeit

Honorable Mentions for Excellence in Hawaiian Culture and for Excellence in Text or Reference: Hawaiian Surfing: Traditions from the Past by John R. K. Clark

Winner for Excellence in Nonfiction: Big Happiness: The Life and Death of a Modern Hawaiian Warrior by Mark Panek

Honorable Mention for Excellence in Natural Science: Shore Fishes of Easter Island by John E. Randall and Alfredo Cea

Winner for Excellence in Natural History: The World of Bananas in Hawaii: Then and Now by Angela K. Kepler and Francis G. Rust (Distributed for Pali-O-Waipio Press)

Photo: Author Mark Panek (right) and Ron Cox of the Hawai’i Book Publishers’ Association

A History of the Ukulele

Posted on May 9, 2012 by stephchun

Since its introduction to Hawai‘i in 1879, the ‘ukulele has been many things: a symbol of an island paradise; a tool of political protest; an instrument central to a rich musical culture; a musical joke; a highly sought-after collectible; a cheap airport souvenir; a lucrative industry; and the product of a remarkable synthesis of western and Pacific cultures. The ‘Ukulele: A History, by Jim Tranquada and John King, explores all of these facets, placing the instrument for the first time in a broad historical, cultural, and musical context.

“Here, at last, is the complete story of the ‘ukulele. Thanks to the authors’ years of tireless research, the instrument’s incredible journey is brought vividly to life. This book is a labor of love and a gift of enduring scholarship.” —Jim Beloff, author of The ‘Ukulele: A Visual History

May 2012 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3634-4 / $20.99 (PAPER)