Hawaii Books

"Annexation Hawaii is a meticulously factual account of the arduous attempt to annex Hawaii 1893-1889. Professor Thomas J. Osborne, acclaimed by his colleagues as a distinguished scholar, deals in facts. Happily, he has no enlightened self-interest ax to grind and no hypocritical ancestors to defend."
--Stephen T. Boggs, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology, UH Manoa

"...rich...splendid, a thorough review of sources...concise, solid, lucid explanation... deserves the attention of scholars of American expansion in the Pacific."
--The Journal of American History

"...a litany of anti-imperialist concerns over Hawaii's annexation as an "entering wedge" for further acquisition of overseas territories...and the historical and moral dilemmas contained therein."
--Institute for Polynesian Studies

"...people believe that "imperialism" won out for military reasons. Osborne shows convincingly that commerce won out instead. America...seen as an "economic imperialist nation."
--The Christian Century

"... honest, fair-minded...a clearer view of the complexity involved in this important episode in American expansion."
--The Western Historical Quarterly

"...Osborne's book is a worth contribution to the historiographies of anti-imperialism...challenging...a solid accomplishment by an able scholar."
--Review in American History

"...intelligent, judicious and convincing."
--The Pacific Historian

"...detailed description...rich discussion... abundant new material."
--American Historical Review

The images and poetry of Kristen Zambucka's book published in 1978 have haunted my imagination for thirty years. This book captures the essence of the spiritualy of the ancient Hawaiians. Mana,the water of life, is achieved through right thoughts deeds and actions. Be careful what want you plant in your mind. Water this image with mana and it will become your reality. These words,the powerful illustrations of native Hawaiians, and photographs in this magical book inspired me.It was the seed planted so many years ago in my imagination by Ms.Zambucka that grew into my historical novel Wai-nani, High Chiefess of Hawaii. Thank you.
www.LindaBallouAuthor.com

This book is about the ethnographer. F.E. Williams.
He spent twenty years as Government Anthropologist in the Australian Territory of Papua.
Between 1922 and 1939, Williams took photographs in about eighteen different ethnographic locations throughout the eight administrative divisions of the territory.
235 images are printed in large format and beautiful quality, about 200 appear in print for the first time.

Usually when we think of Pure Land Buddhism, the exclusive sectarian movements in Japan pioneered by Honen and Shinran come to mind. And indeed these are prominent traditions, but "Approaching the Land of Bliss" amply demonstrates that they're not the whole story by a long shot. The focus of this book then is on other forms of religious belief and praxis focused on Amitabha/Amida Buddha and rebirth in his Pure Land, ones that may surprise us by not conforming to our usual images and characterizations of this aspect of Buddhism. The first surprise for me anyway was the very existence of Pure Land motifs in Tibet and Nepal, since usually such are presented as if particular only to East Asia (apparently the authors were initially taken by surprise as well). These motifs though tend to be non-sectarian, part and parcel of a larger encompassing program of Buddhist religiosity, which turns out to be mostly true also in Song Dynasty China and late 20th-century Taiwan--and, surprisingly, also in Japan itself once one gets beyond the Jodo and Jodo Shinshu Schools, which this book does in style.

Despite the wide range of articles, the quality is remarkably even, combining a reliably high caliber of scholarly expertise with reasonable readability. Each also contributes fully to the overall theme without feeling shoehorned in, the venial sin of many such a collection. One may not agree with the approach of every single article, of course, and in my case one selection seemed rather too anachronistically and dogmatically Leftist (not to mention overly reliant on the theories of Mikhail Bakhtin); still, there's not a one that's not thought-provoking and interesting, and not a one that doesn't challenge common assumptions in intriguing and compelling ways. Highly recommended.

Articles included in this book:
"Introduction" by Richard K. Payne
1. "Pure Land Buddhism in Tibet? From Sukhavati to the Field of Great Bliss" by Matthew T. Kapstein
2. Shengchang's Pure Conduct Society and the Chinese Pure Land Patriarchate" by Daniel Getz
3. "By the Power of One's Last Nenbutsu: Deathbed Practices in Early Medieval Japan" by Jacqueline I. Stone
4. "Amida's Secret Life: Kakuban's 'Amida Hishaku'" by James H. Sanford
5. "'Show Me the Place Where My Mother Is!": Chujohime, Preaching, and Relics in Late Medieval and Early Modern Japan" by Hank Glassman
6. "'Just Behave as You Like: Prohibitions and Impurities Are Not a Problem': Radical Amida Cults and Popular Religiosity in Premodern Japan" by Fabio Rambelli
7. "Ungo Kiyo's 'Ojoyoka' and Rinzai Zen Orthodoxy" by Richard M. Jaffe
8. "From Generalized Goal to Tantric Subordination: Sukhavati in the Indic Buddhist Traditions of Nepal" by Todd T. Lewis
9. "Buddha One: A One-Day Buddha Recitation Retreat in Contemporary Taiwan" by Charles B. Jones

This is book is an exploration of the prehistory of the Aboriginal peoples of Australia - and peoples they are, not just one homogeneous race that the name Aborigines seems to suggest. There is even a suggestion that there may be mixtures of robust and gracile forms of early humankind in their makeup - perhaps uniquely of all races.

The whole issue of human development, of arising consciousness, is one that fascinates me. I keep thinking of the strange hypnogogic and hypnopompic experiences I sometimes encounter and I wonder if in the dreamtime - in humankind's early beginnings - these shadowy forms of consciousness were all that early people experienced.

Josephine Flood explores the mysteries of Aboriginal peoples - such as how they could have so early in human history have reached so far south (such as at Lake Mungo). Compared to the colonisation of the American continent, the colonistaion of Australia is so much earlier and yet the continent is certainly not an immediately appealing destination. And then there is the mystery of why the isolated Tasmanian Aboriginals quite suddenly stopped eating fish and seafood.

Not all these explorations are encouraged by the modern Aboriginal people and yet I am sure that a true understanding of their uniqueness will return some respect to Aboriginals for being just that - Aboriginals - rather than trying to massage them into some creditable position in what is largely an alien society.

This is a wonderful story of discovery, of posing mysteries and suggesting possibilities.

This book is fascinating! I loved reading through it. The photos of the various buildings and the styles were breathtaking.

I am Balinese and grew up surrounded by Balinese architecture in my home village of Ubud. I have also built extensively - my restaurant, shops, houses and villas. I love Balinese architectural forms and materials.

I am very happy with this book. It is a tremendous contribution to the subject and it is surprising that so little was written before. It is lavishly illustrated with beautiful photographs - many taken by Made Wijaya himself - and sadly many of the buildings no longer exist. Thank goodness, there is now a record of them.

It is a coffee table book - but it's much more than that - the text is detailed, well researched and easy to follow.

I have no hesitation in recommending it.

I read this book as part of a course in college. The book does an excellent job of examining how art gets tied up with national politics, especially when governments are involved in an ideologically oriented war. The photos are all in black and white, but this is not really a problem as much of the art discussed is either in black and white itself or are granite statues which do not loose much when photographed in black and white.

This is an excellent book for those looking to understand how art is appropriated by nations or states for their own use. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in political art or who is convinced that art is not, by definition, political.

This is probably the most informative of all the literature on Ancient Hawaiian featherwork and is highly recommended to anyone interested in the craft. Many beautiful photographs of the few existing items.

Having lived in Hawai'i for 11 years, I am deeply impressed by the books content, which is complete, accurate, and includes a very perceptive view of Hawai'i for the reader. In this un presumptious book there exsists a quality which few other books on the subject can match.