Honolulu Weekly

63 pages, $12.95

We couldn’t resist–this rarified collection of articles translated into English from 19th century Hawaiian-language newspapers is too near to our hearts, and too important, to miss.

Malcolm Naea Chun pulls back the linguistic and historic shroud to reveal the character of intellectual discourse in post-contact Hawai’i, and the results are often as delightful as they are surprising.

Many of the pieces are versions of Hawaiian legends, which are interesting mostly by point of comparison to contemporary versions. Others emerge out of the shadowy realm between myth and history, among them a brief but chilling account of maverick cannibals who lived near present-day Helemano Plantation, snatching wayward travelers.

One entry is a letter to the editor of Ka Hae Hawaii, explaining that a recently published Hawaiian calendar overlooked island-to-island differences in the lunar system. “This is the proper procedure to work this out,” the writer implores. “Go and ask the old timers. They will correctly tell and explain it to you.”