Hawaiki Rising—A New Book by Sam Low, Scheduled for May Release

Posted on 25 Apr 2013
In Cultural, Education

Honolulu, HI—

Hawaiki Rising: Hōkūleʻa, Nainoa Thompson, and the Hawaiian Renaissance, a new book by Hōkūleʻa crew member and documentor Sam Low, will be released in May, 2013. To read a synopsis and the forew0rd by Nainoa, go to Sam’s Hawaiki Rising web page. Low will be in Honolulu to present the book at the following events:

Hawaii Book and Music Festival (Sam, with Nainoa). Saturday, May 18, 2 PM. at the Mission Memorial Auditorium
Hawaii Book and Music Festival. Saturday, May 18, Noon. Panel Discussion, “Hawai’i’s Story and Mine,” sponsored by Hawaii Council for the Humanities.
Na Mea Hawai’i/Native Books (at Ward Warehouse). Sunday, May 19, 3-5 PM.

What readers are saying about Hawaiki Rising:

The pacing is great. A good read. Fast, interesting… I adore the portraits of the various players, including minor ones – this is a huge strength of the book: your intimate knowledge of the people, the details of their own personal histories, how they came together to make this happen, what it meant to each of them. I think that is FANTASTIC and I haven’t seen it anywhere else…. I have got to tell you that I think this book is a classic. Really. There are a handful of books on this subject and every one of them is important, We the Navigators, East is a Big Bird, An Ocean in Mind etc., but your book is absolutely one of this group of four or five. It’s amazing. –Christina Thompson – author of the Come On shore and We Will Kill and Eat You All

It is a wonderful book: graceful, exciting, informative, well paced with lively action. You succeeded in the most difficult task. You put me right on the canoe. The education of Nainoa, with all its complications was a delight. I am with him in his doubts and worries and follow him in joy as he learns to trust himself. Mau comes across as a fully developed character and the difference and similarities with Nainoa made for an interesting story. All in all, a really fine job. I raced along, ran upstairs and printed out 50 pages at a time and ran back downstairs to “get back to sea…” –Michael J. Ambrosino, creator and executive producer of PBS series Nova, Odyssey and The Ring of Truth

About the Author:

Sam Low served in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific from 1964 to 1966 and earned a Ph.D. degree from Harvard (in anthropology) in 1975. In 1983, after traveling throughout Polynesia, Sam produced his award winning film, The Navigators – Pathfinders of the Pacific, which told the story of the Polynesian settlement of the Pacific on PBS nationally and internationally on television venues throughout the world. He has sailed aboard Hokule’a on three voyages, from 1999 to 2007, and is the author of many articles on the canoe and her meaning to Polynesians.