Hawaii Books

I am a taoist priest in Hong Kong, and also a candidate of M.A.(Philosophy). Actually, I have read quite a lot of books relating taoism and DAOIST IDENTITY is one of the best books. I highly recommend Chapter 9 "Manifestations of Luzu in morden Guangdong and Hong Kong: The Rise and Growth of Spirit-Writing Cults" by Shiga Ichiko. It contains very useful information for my academic research paper.

However, I would like to point out that the book is mainly for academic purposes, it is not suitable for beginners!

"A Date Which Will Live" is both a stimulating and accessible history of how the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor has been remembered and a sterling example of the employment of the theory of memory in history and postmodern analysis. The author, now a professor of history at the University of California, Irvine, had fashioned a compelling narrative of how Americans have related to the experience of Pearl Harbor in the latter half of the twentieth century. She divides her narrative into two parts, the first dealing with the memory of the experience from December 7, 1941, until the end of the cold war. Her second part discusses the difficult battles over recollections of the World War II experience that took place in the 1990s, largely at the time of their fiftieth anniversaries.

Twin themes inform this narrative. The first is one of "infamy," the immediate reaction to the attack in 1941--President Franklin D. Roosevelt used that terminology in announcing the attack to the American public--and it has been a critical component of the memory of the event ever since. This has been a dominant strain in the recollection, and both popular and scholarly accounts point to duplicity on the part of the Japanese to undertake a surprise attack, demolish the American Pacific fleet, and conquer the bulk of the Asian-Pacific region. Rosenberg does an outstanding job of tracing the charges and recriminations on both sides over who was responsible for the war, and who was rthe bad actor both in causing and in conducting it.

A second theme is one of "deceit," not so much on the part of the Japanese although it is sometimes invoked there as well but on the part of FDR and other key strategists in the U.S. government who sought to maneuver the U.S. into a war with Hitler's Germany. This "back door to war" argument arose soon after the Pearl Harbor attack and has shown remarkable staying power. It suggests that FDR wanted to enter the war in Europe on the side of Great Britain but American isolationists prevented his doing so. He goaded the Japanese into an attack, and considerable circumstantial evidence has been assembled to argue that he even knew in advance that the attack was coming but chose not to warn the Pacific Fleet so that U.S. entry into the war would be assured. Despite overwhelming contrary evidence, and a preponderance of historical analysis debunking this conspiracy theory, it continues to have adherents, even arising in the 1990s as a congressional mandate for the Naval Historical Center to investigate the issue one more time. Rosenberg does an excellent job of telling this story, noting the point/counterpoint of the arguments, and offering sober judgment on the current state of the controversy. This aspect of the book is one of the most satisfying in the work as a whole.

Rosenberg also traces the manner in which the attack has been depicted in a succession of important feature films that have influence popular ideas about Hearl Harbor. These include such works as the wartime documentary made about the attack, in which the striking imagery known to all who have watched even a handful of documentaries on the subject were not actually of the attack itself, but a recreation undertaken in Hollywood. It also includes powerful films such as the 1950s film "From Here to Eternity," the 1960s film "In Harm's Way," the 1970s "Tora, Tora, Tora," and the recent "Pearl Harbor." All have affects on public conceptions of the attack in ways much more significant than most historians like to admit.

Finally, "A Date Which Will Live" offers a complex portrait of an event and its recollection in modern America. Rosenberg writes about the manner in which the recollection of Pearl Harbor fit into the larger history wars of the 1990s. She argued that "the most heated debates generally pitted the country's associations of academic historians against groups of political and cultural conservatives..." (p. 132). As she concluded, "At heart was the question of who had the right (and the power) to claim privileged knowledge of the past. Pro-military lobbying groups, cultural conservatives, and congressional critics railed that historians were `revising' history to suit current agendas; many historians railed back that partisan groups were seeking to `revise' history into popular oversimplifications" (pp. 132-33). So much of this effort was oriented toward what Rosenberg called a "final judgment" of the event in American history. Of course, such an ultimate statement is impossible in any historical debate.

"A Date Which Will Live" is a most welcome addition to the literature of the memory of World War II. One could make the case, and Rosenberg does, that perception and memory of an historic event might be more important than what actually occurred. It is the perception and memory that provoke response in the endless dialogue between the past and the present. Enjoy this well-written and provocative book on an important subject in twentieth century history.

This book was written for a woman that was born and raised in Hawaii to capture a day in Hawaii as a daydream. This book has 221 pages of amazing photography and were all taken in one 24 hour period of time. Every photo has a detailed description. Book includes photos from Hawaii, Maui, Molokai, Lanai, Oahu and Kauai. This book really captures the beauty of the islands and the beauty of the Hawaiian people themselves. Well worth the money to purchase this book for all of you lovers of Hawaii.

Prange's trilogy regarding the events leading up to, the attack itself, and the aftermath of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor stands alone as the definitive body of work pertaining to December 7, 1941. This book is the centerpiece of the trilogy. The narrative is on a par with Walter Lord's fine work "Day of Infamy", and the reader is squarely in the middle of the action. You sense the feeling of incredulity, shock, and sudden realization of war, that permeated those present at the opening moments of the attack. All aspects of the attack are covered in varying degrees, without taking away from the other two books in the series, "At Dawn We Slept", and "Pearl Harbor: The Verdict Of History". This trilogy is a "must have" for anyone studying World War II.

I recently had the honor of meeting the 80 year-old Hone at a poetry reading in Christchurch (New Zealand). To me, a New Zealander, Hone Tuwhare I regard as a living prophet. Open any New Zealand book of verse and Hone will fill a good twenty pages. It is impossible for me to say how important this man is to our country. His poetry is mystical, political, romantic - he captures the landscape and its people like no-one else ever has. You don't have to be a New Zealander to enjoy these either - they will be, I assure you, the most beautiful, energetic, natural, informed poems you will ever have the pleasure of reading. and in no way am I going to be able to put across the sheer wisdom that is "Deep river talk" with a list of adjectives. Its like cummings got lost in wilderness with Thomas Wolfe and built a monastery and they all came out drinking and laughing and singing Maori spirituals. Hell - just read it for yourself.

Most of our traditional histories of China paint a picture of a mainly monolithic state passing through a more-or-less straight line of Dynasties functioning around the designated "Han" peoples. Even where Dynasties were ruled by non-Han peoples (the Yuan, e.g.), we have been given the view that the essence of the "real" China was still the central "Han" culture.

In recent years we have seen numerous studies, archeological discoveries and discourses written about the geographic areas of current China outside of the classical area. The inescapable conclusion that must be drawn from these is that China is, and always was, an extraordinarily multicultural entity.

"Defining Chu: Image and Reality in Ancient China" is an important addition to the literature on early China. Chu was possibly the most important of the states existing in China during the Eastern Zhou period (771/770 - 221 BCE), until its ultimate demise at the hands of the Qin. In fact, the later overthrow of the Qin was led by descendents of Chu - an aristocrat (Xiang Yu) and a commoner (Liu Bang, who, having disposed of Xiang Yu, would become the first Han emperor).

Edited by the eminent scholars Constance Cook and John Major, "Defining Chu" draws together a group of highly regarded Sinologists to explicate the culture and history of the Chu state. Including essays on geography, spatial organization, art, culture, ideology and religion, the book is an important addition to the library of anyone interested in ancient China.

While not entirely casting aside the traditional historic view of China, the book demonstrates the complexity and multicultural aspects of the early Chinese landscape, additionally countering even some more recent views of China as being a historically reclusive and defensive entity. Perhaps more importantly, this book, along with others recently published, demonstrates the sophistication of the various cultures in the general area of China outside of the "Han", which have frequently received the sobriquet of "barbarian" or other tag reflecting a lesser level of sophistication (albeit the definition of "barbarian" being somewhat different in traditional Chinese usage from the current highly perjorative one).

It takes some nit-picking to find shortcomings in the book, but the devil is frequently in the details. The maps provided by the authors in Chapters 1 and 2 do not relate to the text in a straightforward fashion. Readers unfamiliar with the geography will have difficulty in pinpointing the locations discussed, as there is no map placing Chu within the more general geographic entity of China. Reign dates are somewhat inconsistent in Blakeley's essay, with marginal differences showing in repeated references. The essay by Heather Peters seems to lack a central focus, leaving one with a disjointed view of life in the towns.

The shortcomings are trivial, however, in the overall thrust of the book, which is written in a highly entertaining and vigorous style (unlike many histories, I'm afraid to say).

Anyone who has an interest in the culture and life during this seminally important period of Chinese history should buy this book.

From the back cover:
Beautiful young Bethany lay in her room in the fabulous Hawaiian estate her husband had carved out of the tropical wilderness. Outside her door she could here the pacing footsteps of Jared Clegg, the handsome, wealthy, worldly man who had swept her off her feet and brought her to this isolated place to be his wife.

But Bethany's love had turned to terror....

"A full-blooded Gothic..colorful background, sustained suspense, a thrilling climax."
---Booklist

We are so used to thinking of China as a single Han culture that we forget the existence of other cultures, such as the Tibetans (Xizang), Diao, Miao, and Hani -- not to mention the Islamic peoples of the far west. When I read SOUL MOUNTAIN, I received my first education in the subject.

Now I have received quite by chance this children's book from University of Hawaii Press. Upon looking at it, I was drawn in by the excellent illustrations and started reading. I can't speak for what a child would think (and I don't have one to act as a guinea pig), but I loved it.

The book consists of four folk tales, each from a minority culture. After each tale is a description of how it has given birth to a festival, and how that festival is celebrated today. In a society such as ours which has so little understanding of other cultures, this would be a particularly painless way of introducing children to a wider, more colorful, and fascinating world. My congratulations to Carolyn and Jay Han and the excellent illustrator Li Ji.

I just finished reading this book and admiring the photographs and am inspired to get back to the Hawaiian Islands as soon as possible. The obvious knowledge and expertise of the author is a boon to the rest of us who struggle to perfect our game. Hawaii has always been one of my favorite golfing vacation locations,now I am reminded why. The course descriptions and photography are simply incredible. Just about the time I thought I wanted to return, I now find I am driven back. The photos are fabulous and the detail given on the courses with information from the architechs makes them even more enjoyable and challenging. I look forward to my next trip to golf in Hawaii and definitely with this book by my side as my guide.

I picked this book up on the Big Island and now wish I had bought 3 more copies for gifts! What a gorgeous book with accurate and inspiring photos of all the sites we visited on our trip. This book doesn't have much text - just gorgeous photos.