Since it first rolled off the presses in 1856, The Honolulu Advertiser has been an important force in reporting and shaping the news of Honolulu and, secondarily, the Hawaiian Islands. Established as The Pacific Commercial Advertiser, a four-page weekly, it was the first enduring non-government owned or subsidized newspaper published in the Hawaiian Kingdom. Under its first owner, the son of New England missionaries, the Advertiser became the most successful commercial English language newspaper in the Islands. The paper became a daily in 1882 and in 1921 changed its name to The Honolulu...

The period 1945-1975 is often referred to as The Burns Years in Hawai'i history books, and rightfully so. John A. Burns looms as Hawai'i's most significant political figure of the last half of the twentieth century. Burns entered politics at the close of World War II, working closely with organized labor leaders and Japanese-American war veterans to forge a Democratic party that would be an instrument of social change in Hawai'i. For twelve years, over the course of three successive terms as governor, Burns helped to shape many important elements of Hawai'i's social and political structure...

A native of Sri Lanka and one of Hawai'i's most celebrated chefs, Kusuma Cooray is a pioneer in the blending of Asian spices and herbs with Western ingredients to create flavorful and aromatic dishes that please both the eye and the palate. In Burst of Flavor: The Fine Art of Cooking with Spices, Chef Cooray combines the foods of her South Asian childhood (spicy curries, fresh vegetables and fruits, curd, treacle) with her later discoveries as a culinary student in Europe (ripe cheeses, wine, crusty breads, creme fraiche) in new and imaginative ways. Throughout her diverse culinary...

Lei are the very expression of traditional Hawaiian culture and were once an essential part of community and family life. Following in the footsteps of Samuel Kamakau, Abraham Fornander, and others, the authors have collected here a wealth of written and oral information to reveal the significance of making and wearing lei and their role in Hawaiian ritual and dance.

This volume covers eighty-five flowers and plants (and another dozen color variations) used in traditional lei construction. They are arranged according to their Hawaiian names and accompanied by botanical information...

Shy and solitary, the Hawaiian hoary bat is so rare that most people have never seen one. But if you are in the right place (the edge of a forest) at the right time (around sunset), you may be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of one heading out to hunt for beetles and moths, its favorite foods. These and other fascinating details about the Islands' only native land mammal and bats in general can be found in this book.

For example, did you know that: (openli)One fourth of all mammal species are bats; (openli)The phrase blind as a bat is inaccurate because bats have very good...

At the age of eighteen, Chad Rowan left his home in rural Hawai'i for Tokyo with visions of becoming a star athlete in Japan's national sport, sumo. But upon his arrival he was shocked less by the city crowds and the winter cold than by having to scrub toilets and answer to fifteen-year-olds who had preceded him at the sumo beya. Rowan spoke no Japanese. Of Japanese culture, he knew only what little his father, a former tour bus driver in Hawai'i, had been able to tell him as they drove to the airport. And he had never before set foot in a sumo ring.

Five years later, against the...

Moe'uhane, the Hawaiian word for dream, means soul sleep. Hawaiians of old believed they communicated with 'auma-kua, their ancestral guardians, while sleeping, and this important relationship was sustained through dreaming. During soul sleep, people received messages of guidance from the gods; romantic relationships blossomed; prophecies were made; cures were revealed. Dreams provided inspiration, conveying songs and dances that were remembered and performed upon waking. Specialists interpreted dreams, which were referred to and analyzed whenever important decisions were to be made....