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New releases from Hawaii authors:
"Robert Louis Stevenson -- His Best Pacific Writings"
edited by Roger Robinson
(Bess Press, $14.95)Along with Mark Twain, Stevenson has provided a royalty-free treasure trove for publishers. This title, however, attempts to impose a thoughtful order on the written output of "Tusitala," as Stevenson was known. Well-edited and illustrated, it's quite a deluxe production and was originally a New Zealand title.
"A Date Which Will Live -- Pearl Harbor in American Memory"
by Emily S. Rosenberg
(Duke University Press, $24.95)Historian Rosenberg has deviated from the usual just-the-facts approach or the deep paranoia attached to most Pearl Harbor books, and instead meditates on the terrible day's sacred position as a memory artifact for Americans. Remember Pearl Harbor, as the saying goes -- but remember what?
"Fighting Tradition -- A Marine's Journey to Justice"
by Capt. Bruce I. Yamashita, USMCR
( Univbersity of Hawaii Press, $18.95)The byline tells a tale by itself -- the author is a captain in the Marines Corps and wants everyone to know. For someone of Japanese-American heritage, Yasmashita was certainly the standing nail that refused to be hammered down.
He washed out of Marine Officer Candidate School in 1989 for reasons that smelled of racism, and instead of going away in anger, like many of the other minority candidates, he challenged the system that created the problem.
The Marine Corps entered a state of deep denial, despite piles of testimony to the contary, and managed to embarrass itself on a national scale. Apparently, things are better now for minority candidates, thanks largely to Yamashita's spotlight. This modest memoir of Yamashita's travail is fascinating and troubling, particularly accounts of Sen. Inouye's unsentimental pragmatism.
"They Also Served -- Women's Stories From the World War II Era"
by Jeanie Sutton Lambright
(Xlibris, $31.49)Although she never quite gets around to explaining why she cares, Lambright's collected oral histories of women caught up in war is a valuable addition to wartime literature. Such books are revealing in the way time pulls a healing scrim over the rawness of memory. Quite a bit of it deals with Hawaii. This handsome book shows off the emerging quality of print-on-demand titles.
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