News from University of Hawai‘i Press

Revised Edition of The Pacific Islands: Environment and Society Now Available

UH Press Marketing — Thu, 23 May 2013 00:56:33 +0000

The Pacific is the last major world region to be discovered by humans. Although small in total land area, its numerous islands and archipelagoes with their startlingly diverse habitats and biotas, extend across a third of the globe. This revised edition of the popular text The Pacific Islands: Environment and Society, edited by Moshe Rapaport, explores the diverse landforms, climates, and ecosystems of the Pacific island region. Multiple chapters, written by leading specialists, cover the environment, history, culture, population, and economy. The work includes new or completely revised chapters on gender, music, logging, development, education, urbanization, health, ocean resources, and tourism. Throughout two key issues are addressed: the exceptional environmental challenges and the demographic/economic/political challenges facing the region. Although modern technology and media and waves of continental tourists are fast eroding island cultures, the continuing resilience of Pacific island populations is apparent.

May 2013 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3586-6 / $48.00 (PAPER)

In Memoriam — Barbara J. Brooks (1953-2013)

UH Press Marketing — Mon, 20 May 2013 20:03:49 +0000

Barbara J. Brooks died last month after a long and courageous battle with cancer. She was an associate professor of East Asian history at the City College and Graduate Center, City University of New York.

Barbara was the author of many articles on the history of imperial Japan in China and Northeast Asia, as well as Japan’s Imperial Diplomacy: Consuls, Treaty Ports and War in China, 1895–1938, published by UH Press in 2000. Her forthcoming book with Susan L. Burns, Gender and Law in the Japanese Imperium, will be published by the Press later this year.

We extend our sincere condolences to Barbara’s husband, David Jaffee, and their family.

2013 Hawaii Book & Music Festival: Visit the UH Press Tent

UH Press Marketing — Fri, 17 May 2013 04:59:19 +0000

University of Hawai‘i Press will be among the local publishers and vendors exhibiting at this weekend’s Hawai‘i Book and Music Festival, May 18-19, on the Frank F. Fasi Civic Grounds next to Honolulu Hale. Admission and parking are free. Go to the festival website to download a detailed schedule of events, as well the new HBMF app.

Be sure to come by the UH Press tent, located near the Hawai‘i Council for the Humanities Pavilion (left side of the map). We’ll have event-only specials, including 15-25% discounts and will offer free shipping on orders taken onsite. Slightly damaged (“hurt”) stock and a few titles in new condition will have even lower bargain prices. While at our booth, pick up a recipe for braised prawns from Mary Sia’s Classic Chinese Cookbook.

More than a dozen UH Press authors are presenters at the festival: Sandra Bonura, Anwei Law, Kerri Inglis, Leilani Holmes, Jim Tranquada, Mark Panek, Tom Coffman, Willa Tanabe, Victoria Kneubuhl, Malcolm Chun, Gary Pak, Randall Roth, Leslie Hayashi, Warren Nishimoto, Craig Howes, among others. Although we’ll have no set times for signings, authors will stop by throughout the day before and after their presentations, as well as be available to sign books brought along to the tents where they appear.

See you there!

Hawaii Public Radio Interviews Mark Panek, Elliot Cades Award for Literature Winner

UH Press Marketing — Thu, 16 May 2013 23:52:39 +0000

UH-Hilo professor Mark Panek was interviewed by Hawaii Public Radio’s Noe Tanigawa about being named this year’s winner of the Elliot Cades Award for Literature given to an “emerging writer.” The Hawaii Literary Arts Council primarily based their selection on his 2011 biography of Percy Kipapa, Big Happiness: The Life and Death of a Modern Hawaiian Warrior, which received the 2012 Ka Palapala Po‘okela award for nonfiction. The Cades awards will be officially presented at Mission Memorial Auditorium on Sunday, May 19, at 3:00 p.m., as part of the Hawai‘i Book & Music Festival and the public is invited.

The HPR interview will air tomorrow (Friday, May 17) at 7:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. on KHPR 88.1 FM and on KIPO 88.9 FM at 12:30 or 1:30 p.m. (exact timing is subject to change). It will be archived on the HPR website or accessed at www.noetanigawa.com.

Of related interest: Read a past Q&A on Big Happiness here.

In addition to Big Happiness, Dr. Panek also authored Gaijin Yokozuna: A Biography of Chad Rowan (UH Press, 2006) and this month released his first fiction title, Hawai‘i: A Novel, published by Lō‘ihi Press.

Congratulations, Mark!

UH Press Titles Honored at 2013 Ka Palapala Po‘okela Awards

UH Press Marketing — Tue, 14 May 2013 04:00:22 +0000

Last Friday the Hawai‘i Book Publishers Association announced the winners of this year’s Ka Palapala Po‘okela book awards at a ceremony at the Hawai‘i State Library. UH Press titles were recognized with seven of the twenty awards, including the top Samuel M. Kamakau Award for Hawai‘i Book of the Year, which was bestowed on Kalaupapa: A Collective Memory, by Anwei Skinsnes Law with design by Julie Matsuo-Chun. In addition, the book tied as the winner of the Award of Excellence in the Hawaiian Language, Culture and History category and received an honorable mention in Nonfiction.

Author Anwei Law accepts an award for Kalaupapa: A Collective Memory from HBPA president David DeLuca. (photo courtesy of HBPA)

Warm accolades also went to these UH Press titles and their authors:

Ancestry of Experience: A Journey into Hawaiian Ways of Knowing, by Leilani Holmes — Winner (tie) of the Award of Excellence in Hawaiian Language, Culture & History

Leilani Holmes shares her award with husband Ivan Holmes, designer of Ancestry of Experience.

I Respectfully Dissent: A Biography of Edward H. Nakamura, by Tom Coffman — Winner of the Award of Excellence in Nonfiction

Loulu: The Hawaiian Palm, by Donald R. Hodel — Winner of the Award of Excellence in Natural Science

The ‘Ukulele: A History, by Jim Tranquada and John King — Winner of the Award of Excellence in Special-Interest Books

Read the Hawaii Book Blog post on the event for complete results. See more photos on the HBPA website.

Selected Essays on Korean History, Literature, and Society from the Japanese Colonial Era

UH Press Marketing — Mon, 13 May 2013 21:09:45 +0000

Imperatives of Culture: Selected Essays on Korean History, Literature, and Society from the Japanese Colonial Era, edited by Christopher P. Hanscom, Walter K. Lew, and Youngju Ryu, contains translations—many appearing for the first time in the English language—of major literary, critical, and historical essays from the colonial period (1910–1945) in Korea. Considered representative of the debates among and between Korean and Japanese thinkers of the colonial period, these texts shed light on relatively unexplored aspects of intellectual life and take part in current conversations around the nature of the colonial experience and its effects on post-liberation Korean society and culture.

“Imperatives of Culture is a landmark in bringing important Korean texts from the colonial period into the English-speaking world. Intellectuals and writers who were central to debates over Korean identity and culture—which in the 1930s and 1940s the Japanese were trying to eradicate—illumine with insight and often brilliance the dilemmas of an ancient nation captured by a curiously ‘late’ (or late-coming) twentieth-century imperialism. These essays also cast their reflection down to the present, as divided Korea enters its seventh decade. This book rewards multiple readings and will be most useful in the classroom.” —Bruce Cumings, Chair, Department of History, University of Chicago

Korean Classics Library: Historical Materials
May 2013 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3821-8 / $45.00 (CLOTH)

May 2013 Author Events

UH Press Marketing — Wed, 08 May 2013 11:26:39 +0000

It’s a busy month on the Hawai‘i homefront, with several authors visiting from elsewhere, as well as annual events—Ka Palapala Po‘okela awards and Hawai‘i Book & Music Festival.

Thursday, May 9
7:30 p.m., University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa Art Auditorium
Hawaiian Historical Society will present a special two-part program examining the history of the leprosy settlement at Kalaupapa, seen from the perspective of the patients and families who lived there. UH Press authors Kerri Inglis and Anwei Law will give separate presentations based on their respective books, Ma‘i Lepera: Disease and Displacement in Nineteenth-Century Hawai‘i and Kalaupapa: A Collective Memory. For complete details on this free event, see the HHS post.

Friday, May 10
5:30-8:00 p.m., Hawai‘i State Library
Anticipation is building! Hawai‘i Book Publishers Association will announce the winners of this year’s Ka Palapala Po‘okela awards. Read our previous post here.

Saturday, May 11
11 a.m. to 3 p.m., San Diego Zoo
Donald Hodel will be at the ZooStore to sign copies of his book, Loulu: the Hawaiian Palm. (Unlike the others, this event, obviously, is in San Diego rather than Hawai‘i.)

Saturday, May 11
4:00-5:30 p.m., Native Books/Nā Mea Hawai‘i
Come to the book talk/signing with Leilani Holmes on Ancestry of Experience. See the earlier post for details.

Saturday-Sunday, May 18 & 19
All day, Frank F. Fasi Civic Center next to Honolulu Hale
Plan your weekend around the Hawai‘i Book & Music Festival—visit http://hawaiibookandmusicfestival.com/ to see the complete schedule and map. Several UH Press authors will be presenters and please visit our booth near the Hawai‘i Council for the Humanities pavilion.

Monday, May 20
7:00-8:30 p.m., Lyman Museum & Mission House, Hilo
Sandra Bonura coauthor of An American Girl in the Hawaiian Islands: Letters of Carrie Prudence Winter, 1890-1893, will speak about the book and its fascinating backstory. Visit Dr. Bonura’s website to learn more.

Friday, May 31
4:00 p.m., Neal S. Blaisdell Center
Kalaupapa: A Collective Memory will be receiving a Preservation Media Award from the Historic Hawaii Foundation. The award ceremony will take place at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center in Honolulu in the Pīkake Room at 4:00 pm. A reception will follow the presentation program. Tickets to the awards ceremony may be purchased for $45 each (HHF members) or $60 (general admission). Click here for more information.

Honolulu Events with Leilani Holmes on Ancestry of Experience

UH Press Marketing — Sat, 04 May 2013 03:56:41 +0000

San Diego resident Leilani Holmes, author of Ancestry of Experience: A Journey Into Hawaiian Ways of Knowing, will visit Honolulu this month and appear at two public events.

On Saturday, May 11, 4:00 to 5:30 p.m., at Native Books/Nā Mea Hawai‘i, she will speak on her search to reclaim her origins, as well as discoveries of wider interest on Hawaiian identity and ancestry. Light refreshments will be provided at the free presentation. (She will start with a bit of hula, so come early!)

Leilani will also participate as one of the almost 200 presenters at the Hawai‘i Book & Music Festival, May 18-19, at the Frank F. Fasi Civic Grounds next to Honolulu Hale. On Saturday, May 18, she has two timeslots: At 12 noon, she will be a panelist at the Hawai‘i Council for the Humanities tent pavilion; at 4:00 p.m., she will be the solo presenter at the Alana Hawaiian Culture pavilion.

Jazz Remix: Gabe Baltazar’s If It Swings, It’s Music

UH Press Marketing — Sat, 04 May 2013 01:46:16 +0000

Check out this post on Aloha Got Soul about Gabe Baltazar Jr. and take a look/listen from one of his vintage LPs from 1979, recorded with a then-young group of musicians he played with at the Cavalier (located on Kapiolani Boulevard, way back when). Read Gabe’s autobiography, If It Swings, It’s Music, for more on the “Cavalier Days” (pages 157-159) and other great jazz highlights, all in Gabe’s inimitable talk-story style!

For more on Gabe and his music, revisit our post from last May.

Living Morally and Dying of Cancer in a Chinese Village

UH Press Marketing — Thu, 02 May 2013 22:19:51 +0000

Numerous reports of “cancer villages” have appeared in the past decade in both Chinese and Western media, highlighting the downside of China’s economic development. Less generally known is how people experience and understand cancer in areas where there is no agreement on its cause. Who or what do they blame? How do they cope with its onset? Fighting for Breath: Living Morally and Dying of Cancer in a Chinese Village, by Anna Lora-Wainwright, is the first ethnography to offer a bottom-up account of how rural families strive to make sense of cancer and care for sufferers. It addresses crucial areas of concern such as health, development, morality, and social change in an effort to understand what is at stake in the contemporary Chinese countryside.

“Fighting for Breath is a well-written, ethnographically grounded, and anthropologically compelling book. It is theoretically sophisticated and clearly the work of a serious China scholar and first-rate medical anthropologist. Cancer has received much less attention in these fields than it deserves, so this volume fills an important niche.” —Arthur Kleinman, Harvard University

May 2013 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3682-5 / $52.00 (CLOTH)