On April 1, 1946, shortly after sunrise, the town of Hilo on the island of Hawai'i was devastated by a series of giant waves. Traveling 2,300 miles from the Aleutian Islands in less than five hours, the waves struck without warning and claimed 159 lives. Fourteen years later, on May 22, 1960, a massive earthquake occurred off of the coast of Chile. The earthquake generated giant waves that sped across the Pacific at 442 miles per hour, reaching Hilo in just fifteen hours. The first wave to hit the town was a modest four feet higher than normal, the second nine feet. Before the third wave could arrive, a tidal phenomenon known as a bore smashed into the Hilo bayfront, with thirty-five foot waves that wrenched buildings off their foundations. That day several city blocks were swept clean of all structures and 61 people died. The first edition of Tsunami!, published in 1988, provided readers with a complete examination of the tsunami phenomenon in Hawai'i. This second edition adds many eyewitness accounts of the tsunamis of 1946 and 1960 and expands its coverage to include major tsunamis in the Mediterranean and off the coasts of Japan, Chile, Indonesia, Fiji, Alaska, California, Newfoundland, and the Caribbean, as well as the 1998 devastation in Papua New Guinea. Dramatic photographs and accounts of experiencing a tsunami firsthand are placed within the framework of the how and why of tsunamis, our scientific understanding of these phenomena, and the current status of the Tsunami Warning System, which is widely used to forecast and measure tsunamis and prepare coastal areas for potentially deadly tsunami strikes.

Tsunami!: Second Edition (Latitude 20 Books (Paperback))

History

Dudley, Walter C.

Americas

Latitude 20

The Chrysanthemum Throne: A History of the Emperors of Japan (Latitude 20 Books)

Biographies & Memoirs

Martin, Peter

Community & Culture

Since its publication in 1993, From a Native Daughter, a provocative, well-reasoned attack against the rampant abuse of Native Hawaiian rights, institutional racism, and gender discrimination, has generated heated debates in Hawai'i and throughout the world. This 1999 revised work includes material that builds on issues and concerns raised in the first edition: Native Hawaiian student organizing at the University of Hawai'i; the master plan of the Native Hawaiian self-governing organization Ka Lahui Hawai'i and its platform on the four political arenas of sovereignty; the 1989 Hawai'i declaration of the Hawai'i ecumenical coalition on tourism; and a typology on racism and imperialism. Brief introductions to each of the previously published essays brings them up to date and situates them in the current Native Hawaiian rights discussion.

From a Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereignty in Hawaii (Revised Edition) (Latitude 20 Books (Paperback))

Trask, Dr. Haunani-Kay

In Japan, evidence of the country's Westernization abounds, yet despite appearances, it has remained "uniquely" Japanese. For this reason, the uninformed Westerner doing business there will find it difficult and even frustrating to work with Japanese unless he or she gains a good understanding of Japan and its people. The author draws on his extensive bilingual and bicultural experience to provide readers with an insightful look at many key aspects of doing business with Japan, ranging from initiating and maintaining business contacts, effective interpersonal communication, decision-making styles, negotiation tactics, presentational speaking, working of Japanese multinational companies, and living and working in Japan. Businesspeople, academics, non-academics, students, and others who are interested in learning how to communicate effectively and successfully with Japanese in international business contexts will benefit from the author's sound recommendations and advice.

Doing Business with Japan: Successful Strategies for Intercultural Communication (Latitude 20 Books (Paperback))

Business & Money

Nishiyama, Kazuo

Business Culture

Kona is one of the world's premium coffees. Given its small-scale cultivation on family farms, however, it has been especially susceptible to price swings and market gluts. A Cup of Aloha is a heartfelt portrait of the farmers, millers, landowners, merchants, and laborers who struggled to keep themselves and their industry alive. The author traces coffee's history in Hawaii--from its arrival in 1828 to Kona's position in today's highly competitive specialty coffee market. Through the author's use of oral history interviews, readers will experience day-to-day life on a coffee farm and the challenges, natural and man-made, that inspired innovations and adaptations to the agricultural, economic, and social life in the Kona Coffee Belt.

A Cup of Aloha: The Kona Coffee Epic

Kinro, Gerald Y.

Biography & History

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. Having no written language, Hawaiians passed their history and life lessons down in the form of legends, which were committed to memory and told and retold. And within these stories are a multitude of dreams--as in a famous legend of the goddess Pele, who travels in a dream to meet and entrance the high chief Lohi‘au. Dreams continue to play an important role in modern Hawaiian culture and are considered by some to have as powerful an influence today as in ancient times. In this companion volume to her award-winning Hawaiian Legends of the Guardian Spirits, artist Caren Loebel-Fried retells and illuminates nine dream stories from Hawai‘i's past that are sure to please readers young and old, kama‘aina and malihini, alike.

Hawaiian Legends of Dreams

Loebel-Fried, Caren

Children's Books

Following on the success of the first volume, Ho'opilipili 'Olelo II provides Hawaiian language learners of all levels with an entertaining new array of puzzles. Crossword puzzles, change-a-letter puzzles, matching word puzzles, and word search puzzles―each designed to increase vocabulary and word usage―will give the crossword enthusiast a richer understanding of this living language. New thematic sections feature words that describe life in traditional Hawai'i, including the art and science of canoe building (ho'owa'a) and voyaging (huaka'i). The book also includes the popular "how to" section from the first volume (complete with blank puzzle forms), which shows readers how to create their own crossword puzzles.

Ho'opilipili 'Olelo II: Hawaiian Language Crossword Puzzles, Word Search Puzzles, Change-a-Letter Puzzles, and Crossword Dictionary (Latitude 20 Books (Paperback))

Humor & Entertainment

Frayer-Luna, Georgiana

Puzzles & Games

We Fought the Navy and Won is a carefully documented yet impassioned recollection of Guam’s struggle to liberate itself from the absolutist rule of the U.S. Navy. Doloris Cogan concentrates on five crucial years, 1945–1950, when, fresh out of journalism school, she had the good fortune to join the distinguished team of idealists at the newly formed Institute of Ethnic Affairs in Washington, D.C. Working as a writer/editor on the monthly Guam Echo under the leadership of the Institute’s director, John Collier, Cogan witnessed and recorded the battle fought at the very top between Collier and Navy Secretary James V. Forrestal as the people of Guam petitioned the U.S. Congress for civilian government under a constitution. Taken up by newspapers throughout the country, this war of words illustrated how much freedom of the press plays in achieving and sustaining true democracy. Part of the story centers around a young Chamorro named Carlos Taitano, who returned home to Guam in 1948 after serving in the U.S. Army in the Pacific. Taitano joined his colleagues in the lower house and walked out of the Guam Congress in 1949 to protest the naval governor, who had refused their right to subpoena an American businessman suspected of illegal activity. The walkout was the catalyst that brought approval of the Organic Act of Guam, which was signed into law by President Truman in 1950. We Fought the Navy and Won is the first detailed look at the events surrounding Guam’s elevation from military to civilian government.

We Fought the Navy and Won: Guam's Quest for Democracy (Latitude 20 Books (Hardcover))

Cogan, Doloris Coulter

We Fought the Navy and Won is a carefully documented yet impassioned recollection of Guam’s struggle to liberate itself from the absolutist rule of the U.S. Navy. Doloris Cogan concentrates on five crucial years, 1945–1950, when, fresh out of journalism school, she had the good fortune to join the distinguished team of idealists at the newly formed Institute of Ethnic Affairs in Washington, D.C. Working as a writer/editor on the monthly Guam Echo under the leadership of the Institute’s director, John Collier, Cogan witnessed and recorded the battle fought at the very top between Collier and Navy Secretary James V. Forrestal as the people of Guam petitioned the U.S. Congress for civilian government under a constitution. Taken up by newspapers throughout the country, this war of words illustrated how much freedom of the press plays in achieving and sustaining true democracy. Part of the story centers around a young Chamorro named Carlos Taitano, who returned home to Guam in 1948 after serving in the U.S. Army in the Pacific. Taitano joined his colleagues in the lower house and walked out of the Guam Congress in 1949 to protest the naval governor, who had refused their right to subpoena an American businessman suspected of illegal activity. The walkout was the catalyst that brought approval of the Organic Act of Guam, which was signed into law by President Truman in 1950. We Fought the Navy and Won is the first detailed look at the events surrounding Guam’s elevation from military to civilian government.

We Fought the Navy and Won: Guam's Quest for Democracy (Latitude 20 Books (Paperback))

Doloris Coulter Cogan

Australia & Oceania

Hā‘ena is a land steeped in antiquity yet vibrantly beautiful today as any Hollywood fantasy of a tropical paradise. He ‘āina momona, a rich and fertile land linked to the sea and the rising and setting sun, is a place of gods and goddesses: Pele and her sister, Hi‘iaka, and Laka, patron of hula. It epitomizes the best that can be found in the district of northwestern Kaua‘i, known to aboriginal Hawaiians as Hale Le‘a (House of Pleasure and Delight). This work is an ambitious attempt to provide a unique perspective in the complex story of the ahupua‘a of Ha‘ena. Carlos Andrade begins by examining the stories that identify the origins and places of the earliest inhabitants of Hā‘ena. The narrative outlines the unique relationships developed by Hawaiians with the environment and describes the system used to look after the land and the sea. Andrade goes on to research the changes wrought by concepts and perceptions introduced by European, American, and Asian immigrants. He delves into the impact of land privatization as Hawai‘i struggled to preserve its independence. The Mahele and the Kuleana Act, legislation that laid the foundation for all landholding in Hawai‘i, had a profound influence on Hā‘ena. Part of this story includes a description of the thirty-nine Hawaiians who pooled their resources, bought the entire ahupua‘a of Hā‘ena, and held it in common from the late 1800s to 1967―a little-known chapter in the fight to perpetuate traditional lifeways. Lastly, Andrade collects the stories of kupuna who share their experiences of life in Hā‘ena and surrounding areas, capturing a way of life that is quickly disappearing beneath the rising tide of non-Native people who now inhabit the land. Hā‘ena: Through the Eyes of the Ancestors is a distinctive work, which blends folklore, geography, history, and ethnography. It casts a wide net over information from earliest times to the present, primarily related from a Native perspective. It should be of great interest to historians, ethnologists, sociologists, and students of Hawaiian language, literature, and culture.

Hā‘ena: Through the Eyes of the Ancestors

Andrade, Carlos

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