New Catalog Available: Asian Studies 2013

The UH Press Asian Studies 2013 catalog is now available! The catalog has been redesigned to showcase our new and forthcoming Asian studies titles. (All books published prior to late 2012 and currently in print can be found at our website.) To view the PDF, click on the catalog cover image to the left.

Highlights include:

* An illustrated anthology of well-known masterpieces and unusual writing from 18th-century Edo’s counterculture — An Edo Anthology: Literature from Japan’s Mega-City, 1750–1850

*Four new titles in the Spatial Habitus series — The Hermit’s Hut: Asceticism and Architecutre in India, China’s Contested Capital: Architecture, Ritual, and Response in Nanjing, Architecture and Urbanism in Modern Korea, and Original Copies: Architectural Mimicry in Contemporary China

* Short fiction from Japan’s foremost Marxist writer, Kobayashi Takiji, including a new translation of an anticapitalist classic that became a runaway bestseller in Japan in 2008, nearly eight decades after its publication — The Crab Cannery Ship and Other Novels of Struggle

* A timely collection of essays exploring Japan’s role in global environmental transformation and how Japanese ideas have shaped bodies and landscapes over the centuries — Japan at Nature’s Edge: The Environmental Context of a Global Power

* An expansive new study on the varied roles Southeast Asia’s monumental remains (Angkor, Pagan, Borobudur, and Ayutthaya, among others) have played in the histories of its modern nations — A Heritage of Ruins: The Ancient Sites of Southeast Asia and Their Conservation

* Close description and analysis of the history, geographical whereabouts, and doctrinal positions of early schools of Buddhism by André Bareau, one of the foremost scholars of Buddhism of his generation — The Buddhist Schools of the Small Vehicle

* Two volumes in the new series Korean Classics Library — Salvation through Dissent: Tonghak Heterodoxy and Early Modern Korea and Imperatives of Culture: Selected Essays on Korean History, Literature, and Society

Chinese Maritime Policies, 1684-1757

Did China drive or resist the early wave of globalization? Some scholars insist that China contributed nothing to the rise of the global economy that began around 1500. Others have placed China at the center of global integration. Neither side, though, has paid attention to the complex story of China’s maritime policies. Drawing on sources from China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and the West, The Qing Opening to the Ocean: Chinese Maritime Policies, 1684–1757, an important new work by Gang Zhao, systematically explores the evolution of imperial Qing maritime policy and sets its findings in the context of early globalization.

“This is an important work based on impressive erudition that offers a convincing reinterpretation of Chinese attitudes toward maritime trade.” —John E. Wills, Jr., University of Southern California

Perspectives on the Global Past
February 2013 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3643-6 / $56.00 (CLOTH)

Literature from Japan’s Mega-City, 1750-1850

During the eighteenth century, Edo (today’s Tokyo) became the world’s largest city, quickly surpassing London and Paris. Its rapidly expanding population and flourishing economy encouraged the development of a thriving popular culture. Innovative and ambitious young authors and artists soon began to look beyond the established categories of poetry, drama, and prose, banding together to invent completely new literary forms that focused on the fun and charm of Edo. Their writings were sometimes witty, wild, and bawdy, and other times sensitive, wise, and polished. Now some of these high spirited works, celebrating the rapid changes, extraordinary events, and scandalous news of the day, have been collected in An Edo Anthology: Literature from Japan’s Mega-City, 1750–1850, edited by Sumie Jones, with Kenji Watanabe, an accessible volume highlighting the city life of Edo.

“Anyone who wishes to soak up the atmosphere of Japanese urban life in those marvellous years before Edo became Tokyo need look no further than this anthology. Designed around six thematic categories, the book leads us right to the heart of the colorful, the earthy, the comic, the scabrous world of what in the mid-eighteenth century was in all likelihood the largest city in the world. A special strength of this collection is its successful attempt to capture one of the most remarkable aspects of popular literature of the time: the visual excitement of the woodblock printed page. A superb teaching resource that puts Edo within reach of the classroom.” —Richard Bowring, Professor Emeritus, University of Cambridge

February 2013
ISBN 978-0-8248-3629-0 / $70.00 (CLOTH)
ISBN 978-0-8248-3740-2 / $30.00 (PAPER)

Five Dollar Friday Sale is March 1 / Five Books for $5 Each

UH Press’ very first Five Dollar Friday Sale is this week Friday, March 1. From 8am to 4pm (HST), these oldie-but-goodie titles will be available for $5 each at our website, while supplies last:

• In Deeper Waters: Photographic Studies of Hawaiian Deep-Sea Habitats and Life-Forms
• Tsunami Man: Learning about Killer Waves with Walter Dudley
• Ho‘opilipili ‘Olelo II: Hawaiian Language Crossword Puzzles, Word Search Puzzles, Change-a-Letter Puzzles, and Crossword Dictionary
• Death and Taxes: Questions and Answers on Wills, Trusts, and Probate
• Artists/Hawaii

Calling All ‘Ukulele Fans in Southern California!

Jim Tranquada, author of The ‘Ukulele: A History, will speak at a couple of events in the southern California area — one taking place tomorrow (sorry for the short notice) and the other in April. In each he will be paired with ‘ukulele musicians to create entertaining celebrations of the versatile instrument. The Brittni Paiva concert should be especially awesome!

Saturday, February 23, 2013, 2:00 to 3:00 p.m.
Grant R. Brimhall Library, 1401 East Janss Road, Thousand Oaks
Musician/teacher Tom Kuznkowski will lead the kanikapila (jam session). Bring your ‘uke and join in! For more details, download the flyer here.

Saturday, April 13, 2013, from 2:00 p.m.
Museum of Making Music, 5790 Armada Drive, Carlsbad
Mark your calendars to head over to Carlsbad for “Sincerely, Ukulele,” featuring Jim Tranquada’s book talk, followed by a performance by ‘ukulele artist Brittni Paiva. For details and to purchase tickets, click here.

UH Press around the Web: Hawai‘i Catch-up

Even though 2013 is undeniably well underway, reviews and stories from fall 2012 can still make good reading. Here are some we missed posting earlier.

Waves of Resistance author Isaiah Walker was interviewed by Daniel Ikaika Ito/Contrast Magazine for Raynorsurf.com, dispelling not only “the burnt-out, Hawaiian surfer stereotype” but the ivory-tower professor stereotype, as well.

The October 2012 canonization of Saint Marianne focused worldwide attention on Kalaupapa, Moloka‘i, as did this article in Syracuse, New York’s The Post-Standard that quotes Anwei Skinsnes Law, author of Kalaupapa: A Collective Memory.

Glenn Wharton’s The Painted King: Art, Activism, and Authenticity in Hawai‘i was reviewed in the new open-access eJournal of Public Affairs. Read the September 2012 review here.

West Hawai‘i Today published a wonderful review geared for Kona residents of Loulu: The Hawaiian Palm in its December 16, 2012 edition. (Note: The photo next to the review shows the plant discussed in the second article appearing on the page.)

Honolulu Weekly‘s Winter Book Issue served up reviews worth repeating of several UHP titles.
• “How ‘Bout Gabe?” on If It Swings, It’s Music: The Autobiography of Hawai‘i’s Gabe Baltazar Jr.

• “Strumming Histories” on The ‘Ukulele: A History

• “Under Western Eyes” on An American Girl in the Hawaiian Islands: Letters of Carrie Prudence Winter, 1890-1893

• “Exiles at Home” on Kalaupapa: A Collective Memory

• “Lit Up by Language” on Sky Lanterns: New Poetry from China, Formosa, and Beyond

OK. Onward from here!