Hawaii Books

I have visited Kauai many times with other guide books and this is bar none the best one. Everything is thought of, mapped out, explained and clear. I would highly recommend it.

They say a picture speaks a thousand words, and perhaps a book writing about the aftermath of an hurricane on a small Hawaiian island should be as visual and expressive as possible.

However I loved the caption writing that supported these photographs and wished there was more of it. It is like the coulis you really prefer around a staid pudding. Myles Ludwig emits an air of sanguine lackadaisicality, whilst emanating a barely suppressed passion and sensitivity for his surroundings.

I'll keep an eye out for any other work from this talented writer.

This book is a wonderful glimpse of the beautiful Island of Kauai.
After my first visit to the Island, I wanted something that would capture the pure beauty of Kauai, and keep all the magic fresh in my mind. This book does the job. The photographs are amazing.
Well done, to Douglas Peebles.

The author obviously did his homework in compiling this book. If you really want to know the history of Kauai, you cannot go wrong with this book. It covers the origins from the first settlers to the landing of Captain Cook and ends with the annexation of the islands by the United States.

My only ping is it tends to jump dates and times about subjects while on the same page and you lose track of where you are. I can understand why the author did this, but it breaks the flow when you are trying to process Hawaiian names and places at the same time.

But don't let that stop you from purchasing this book if you want a real history and education on Kauai. If you can retain 10% of what this book offers, you will be an expert on the island.

If you go or have gone to Kauai, the places you visit will have much more meaning than just going to a snorkeling location or paddling the Wailua river. You learn about how sacred these places were to the ancient Hawaiians and also how the island both prospered and faultered throughout its inhabitance.

The Na Pali coast is devoid of any people or communities today, but in ancient times, many people lived in those valleys. Families trekked across treacherous terrains just to visit each other. It is amazing to think about when you stand at the top of the Kalalau lookout.

When you pull off the side of the rode to look at the Hanapepe valley, you are looking at the location where many people were killed as "payback" for Kauai's resistance to unification of the islands from years past.

These stories and more are vividly explained. It's not a tale of fiction or an easy read like Harry Potter. What it is though is a thoughtful, historic and educational story of the island and the people who lived there.

In this retelling of "Twas the Night Before Christmas" Santa makes his yearly visit on Christmas Eve to Hawaii. The pictures are engaging and colorful, and so very beautiful that children will want to look at them over and over. The text is liberally laced with Hawaiian words which make the reading aloud a little clumsy, especially for those who are unfamiliar with their pronunciations, but the book is so appealing that families will make it a yearly holiday read. I discovered this book at a reading by a colleague and my children were so enchanted that they begged me to purchase them a copy.

These stories, based on the ancient legends of the Hawaiian people, are among the first writing to reach the U.S. on surfing as a sport, and the legends behind it, with photographs depicting Hawaiian scenes at the turn of the last century.

This book truly speaks to the soul of a being, child and adult. It is full of character, love, lessons and truth. The pictures inspire the imagination and make the words come alive. A wonderful story for children of all ages.

Kepelino was a Hawaiian man born around 1830. He was schooled by Catholic missionaries, traveled to Tahiti in 1847 to open a mission, and became a prolific contributor to Catholic newspapers and Hawaiian language newspapers. He also sided with Queen Emma in her fight for the Hawaiian throne; this effort had him jailed and sentenced to hang for treason (the first person so sentenced).

He was eventually pardoned, and died in 1878.

At one point in his life he sat down with his missionary friends and dictated his recollections of life, legends, and customs as a Hawaiian. This volume, in English and Hawaiian, is that compilation.

Some tidbits:

"Special persons called 'Poe-o-kahi-kapu' attended to the private parts of a chief when he was ill and of the chiefess during her menstruating period. They alone had the right to do this service, no one else. If another stepped into the position he would be put to death. This was a post handed down in a family" (p. 130).

"The commoners comprise only those people who have no chiefly blood. A chief is known by his name. This is a peculiarity of Hawaii. The name of a chief is tabu and cannot be given to a commoner or he would die. Hence the chiefs are distinguished by their names from the commoners and the commoners from the chiefs. This is a custom peculiar to Hawaii. Among the white people names are not significant, but to the Hawaiian the name is important. Many are the strange things to be learned about Hawaii. However diligently the foreigner seeks he cannot find out all. He gets a fragment here and there and goes home. A heap of absurdities is all he has to show from great Hawaii" (p. 142).

"There are many ways of planting taro. One way is called 'prodding,' another 'steering', another 'covering', another 'mounding', another 'stopping up', another 'leaf filling'" (p. 152; they are described in turn).

"There were many kinds of dances in Hawaii: There was the chest-slapping dance, the dance in which time was beaten with sticks, the dance with marionettes, and so on. All these things were sinful. Eyes, hands, feet and body ensnared the onlooker. The dance taught the young people to sin. he who had known no wrong would quickly learn it in the dance. There was no dance, not a single chant of Hawaii, that was not filthy. Hawaiian chants were all bad, even the name chants. They were all filthy. But the calling chants and some of the genealogical chants of gods and chiefs contained no double meanings, and the ancestral chants were almost free of them. All the rest of the chants were made by Lucifer" (p. 164, 166).

"Kane, Lono, Kanaloa were the Gods who made Heaven and Earth. These three Gods were one in their nature as God, that is, a very holy One-God-in-three, 'Akua-kahi-kolu.' Before them there was no Heaven and no Earth. ...They saw the light and the darkness and they were good. ...They said, 'Let us make a man, a being like ourselves, knowing all things.' ...They said, 'Let us make women to be a companion for the man, to bear seed for the broad earth.' ...They ceased making the earth and blessed it. This was the sixth period" (p. 174, 176, 178; written by G. M. Keone and T. C. Polikapa and included as appendix).

Clearly, it is difficult to tell what was truly Hawaiian and what was a "missionary Hawaiian" interpretation. That there is a European influence on Kepelino's window to his world I have no doubt. The notes on dancing are a good example. However, I would assume the farming notes are more accurate.

Giving the absolute and radical decimation of the Hawaiian race and its customs throughout the late 18th and all the 19th centuries, even Kepelino is missing information.

In a forward written by Noelani Arista, Arista stated "Kepelino's position within that changing tradition cannot be understood without considering the different kinds of education and training he received and the particular ways in which these influenced his intellectual production" (p. ix). I agree.

Arista also noted "While foreign missionaries expressed an urgent interest in preserving Hawaiian traditions, which they believed would soon be lost as a result of the decline of the Hawaiian population, some of the same missionaries tried to radically change, and even destroy the very traditions that they had asked the Hawaiian historians to commit to writing" (p. x). I see this as well.

Finally, the original translator of this work, Martha Warren Beckwith, wrote in 1931 that "...we must accept this record for what it is worth, an attempt by a Hawaiian of exceptional inheritance and training to explain the beliefs and traditions of the past as they had been handed down to those Hawaiians of his own time who interested themselves in these matters" (p. 7). She added, "Even those who demand more rigorous proof of the historical accuracy of the Kepelino manuscript as an exact replica of antiquity, may grant its value as the genuine thought about his own ancient heritage of a native Hawaiian who grew up during the stirring days of the missions and the monarchy in Hawaii" (p. 7).

But the evidence indicates a profound loss of Hawaiian cultural traditions within decades of the coming of whalers, European businessmen, and missionaries. Because of this, we depend on the accounts of Kepelino, Malo, and others to give us insight.

But this is almost the best we have, this glimpse into a Hawaiian life.

This book grabs your attention right from the start and is a joy and pleasure to read. I couldn't put it down till finished. I highly commend the authors on their good taste and wonderful imagination. I personally can't wait for the next book to come out.

Great job!

Valeri's Kingship and Sacrifice is a well researched and thoroughly documented study of the ritual practices and beliefs of the state religion of Hawai'i prior to Christianization and subsequent colonization (you make the connection). This classic is an essential for those interested in the indigenous religious practices of Kanaka Maoli (the Native Hawaiian), specifically those of the ruling class or ali'i and consequently the participation required by the maka'ainana (watcher of the land). He relies extensively on oral histories recorded and/or translated by Native speakers, as well as other documents authored by Native Hawaiians primarily in the 1800's. These written sources are unique because Kanaka Maoli are rare among indigenious peoples as they were able to record their history in their mother tongue and English. In fact prior to the American backed coup that toppled the legitimate government of Hawaii in 1893, Native Hawaiians were the most literate nation in the world. Today Kanaka Maoli Nation is considered the most illiterate ethnic group in the American colony known as the State of Hawai'i. Politics aside, to Valeri's credit he consistantly avoids judgement of what might appear to be questionable cultural practices/values to some Western eyes (although let that reader first take the log out his own). On a metaphysical plane, Kingship and Sacrifice is a study of an alternative and (in its a time) viable reality. We are reminded that reality is not arbitrary construct or an absolute, but rather a mutable creation of the human mind and as such any reality functions because as an individuals within a society we give our conscious or unconscious consent. We are also given opportunity to reflect upon how Spirit was made manifest or channeled within a particuliar society, and noteworthy is the belief that mystery of Spirit imbued every aspect of life. The influence of this ancient way of being is still felt within contemporary Hawaiian culture.