In 1893 a small group of white planters and missionary descendants backed by the United States overthrew the Kingdom of Hawai‘i and established a government modeled on the Jim Crow South. In Nation Within Tom Coffman tells the complex history of the unsuccessful efforts of deposed Hawaiian queen Lili‘uokalani and her subjects to resist annexation, which eventually came in 1898. Coffman describes native Hawaiian political activism, the queen's visits to Washington, D.C., to lobby for independence, and her imprisonment, along with hundreds of others, after their aborted armed insurrection. Exposing the myths that fueled the narrative that native Hawaiians willingly relinquished their nation, Coffman shows how Americans such as Theodore Roosevelt conspired to extinguish Hawai‘i's sovereignty in the service of expanding the United States' growing empire.

Nation Within: The History of the American Occupation of Hawai'i

History

Coffman, Tom

Americas

Duke University Press Books

Catch a wave;: A case study of Hawaii's new politics

University Press of Hawaii

In his most challenging work to date, journalist and author Tom Coffman offers readers a new and much-needed political narrative of twentieth-century Hawai'i. The Island Edge of America reinterprets the major events leading up to and following statehood in 1959: U.S. annexation of the Hawaiian kingdom, the wartime crisis of the Japanese-American community, post-war labor organization, the Cold War, the development of Hawai'i's legendary Democratic Party, the rise of native Hawaiian nationalism. His account weaves together the threads of multicultural and transnational forces that have shaped the Islands for more than a century, looking beyond the Hawai'i carefully packaged for the tourist to the Hawai'i of complex and conflicting identities--independent kingdom, overseas colony, U.S. state, indigenous nation--a wonderfully rich, diverse, and at times troubled place. 
With a sure grasp of political history and culture based on decades of firsthand archival research, Tom Coffman takes Hawai'i's story into the twentieth century and in the process sheds new light on America's island edge.

The Island Edge of America: A Political History of Hawai'i

Univ of Hawaii Pr

In his most challenging work to date, journalist and author Tom Coffman offers readers a new and much-needed political narrative of twentieth-century Hawaii. The Island Edge of America reinterprets the major events leading up to and following statehood in 1959: U.S. annexation of the Hawaiian kingdom, the wartime crisis of the Japanese-American community, postwar labor organization, the Cold War, the development of Hawaii's legendary Democratic Party, the rise of native Hawaiian nationalism. His account weaves together the threads of multicultural and transnational forces that have shaped the Islands for more than a century, looking beyond the Hawaii carefully packaged for the tourist to the Hawaii of complex and conflicting identities--independent kingdom, overseas colony, U.S. state, indigenous nation--a wonderfully rich, diverse, and at times troubled place. With a sure grasp of political history and culture based on decades of firsthand archival research, Tom Coffman takes Hawaii's story into the twentieth century and in the process sheds new light on America's island edge.

University of Hawaii Press

Tom Coffman’s portrait of Edward Nakamura is both insightful biography and engrossing political history. The arc of the story may sound familiar (the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, the GI Bill, Statehood), but it is strewn with surprise, resulting from Nakamura’s unshakable creed and unique angle of vision. Translating the political gains of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Nakamura played a central role―unpublicized―in devising arguably the most progressive program of legislation in an American state: universal health care, temporary disability insurance, collective bargaining rights for public workers, and more―all of which forever changed the Hawai‘i worker’s landscape. Vaulted from relative anonymity onto the Hawai‘i Supreme Court, Nakamura was acclaimed for his powerful intellect, his writing, and, most of all, his iron will and integrity. In retirement, he became a dissenting moral force. He fought mismanagement in the State Retirement System, helped to block a highly controversial Supreme Court appointment, and agitated for separating the high court from the Bishop Estate. 28 illus.

I Respectfully Dissent: A Biography of Edward H. Nakamura

Biographies & Memoirs

Community & Culture

Tadaima! I Am Home: A Transnational Family History (Intersections: Asian and Pacific American Transcultural Studies, 33)

Tadaima! I Am Home unearths the five-generation history of a family that migrated from Hiroshima to Honolulu but never settled. In the telling, the common Japanese greeting “tadaima!” takes on a perplexing meaning. What is home? Where most immigrants either establish roots in a new place or return to their place of origin, the Miwa family became transnational. With one foot in Japan, the other in America, they attempted to build lives in both countries. In the process, they faced the challenges of internment, a civilian prisoner exchange, the atomic bomb, and the loss of their holdings on both sides of the Pacific. The story begins and ends with the fifth-generation figure, Stephen Miwa of Honolulu, who is trying to get to the bottom of a shadowed reference to his family name: “The Miwas are unlucky.” Tom Coffman’s research tracks back to the founding sojourner, Marujiro, a fallen samurai, and to the sons of subsequent generations―Senkichi, a field laborer turned storekeeper; James Seigo, a merchant prince; Lawrence Fumio, a heroically struggling “foreign” student; and, finally, the contemporary Stephen, whose nagging questions drive him to excavate his enigmatic past. Among the book’s unusual finds, the most extraordinary is the fourteen-year-old Fumio’s student diary, which he maintained in Hiroshima from July 4, 1945, through his survival of atomic bombing and into the following autumn. The Miwas climbed from poverty to wealth, and then fell precipitously from wealth into poverty. The most recent generations have regrouped by dint of intense determination and devotion to education, exercised against the strange transformation of Japanese Americans from despised “other” to model minority. Throughout, this resilient family has kept an outwardly facing cheerfulness, giving no clues as to what they have been through. Tadaima! I Am Home confronts history from a largely unexplored transnational viewpoint, suggesting new ways of looking and seeing. Although it does not explicitly beg the question of internal security in the present, it poses new perspectives on immigration, acculturation, commitment to nation, and the marginalization of distrusted minorities.

Tadaima! I Am Home unearths the five-generation history of a family that migrated from Hiroshima to Honolulu but never settled. In the telling, the common Japanese greeting "tadaima!" takes on a perplexing meaning. What is home? Where most immigrants either establish roots in a new place or return to their place of origin, the Miwa family became transnational. With one foot in Japan, the other in America, they attempted to build lives in both countries. In the process, they faced the challenges of internment, a civilian prisoner exchange, the atomic bomb, and the loss of their holdings on both sides of the Pacific. The story begins and ends with the fifth-generation figure, Stephen Miwa of Honolulu, who is trying to get to the bottom of a shadowed reference to his family name: "The Miwas are unlucky." Tom Coffman's research tracks back to the founding sojourner, Marujiro, a fallen samurai, and to the sons of subsequent generations--Senkichi, a field laborer turned storekeeper; James Seigo, a merchant prince; Lawrence Fumio, a heroically struggling "foreign" student; and, finally, the contemporary Stephen, whose nagging questions drive him to excavate his enigmatic past. Among the book's unusual finds, the most extraordinary is the fourteen-year-old Fumio's student diary, which he maintained in Hiroshima from July 4, 1945, through his survival of atomic bombing and into the following autumn. The Miwas climbed from poverty to wealth, and then fell precipitously from wealth into poverty. The most recent generations have regrouped by dint of intense determination and devotion to education, exercised against the strange transformation of Japanese Americans from despised "other" to model minority. Throughout, this resilient family has kept an outwardly facing cheerfulness, giving no clues as to what they have been through. Tadaima! I Am Home confronts history from a largely unexplored transnational viewpoint, suggesting new ways of looking and seeing. Although it does not explicitly beg the question of internal security in the present, it poses new perspectives on immigration, acculturation, commitment to nation, and the marginalization of distrusted minorities.

Review Inclusion is of singular worldwide public and academic importance. It lifts up Hawai‘i’s interethnic history to show how small groups with a common goal and working cooperatively can result in wondrous social change. -- Tetsuden Kashima, author of Judgment without Trial: Japanese American Imprisonment during World War II and Buddhism in America: The Social Organization of an Ethnic Religious InstitutionTom Coffman has broken new ground on the tragic history of Japanese American internment. Now we know the Hawai‘i chapter is a crucial part of the story―and Coffman tells it with authority and verve. -- Kai Bird, Pulitzer Prize–winning historian and director of the Leon Levy Center for Biography, CUNY Graduate CenterTom Coffman has produced a definitive account of Americans of Japanese ancestry in Hawai‘i during World War II. His book shows how local Japanese figures such as Shigeo Yoshida joined forces with a diverse group of allies, both inside and outside official circles, to mobilize Japanese communities in support of the war and the public in support of Japanese communities. They averted the tragedy of mass confinement, such as that on the US mainland, and their success made Hawai‘i a model for inclusion of ethnic Japanese in mainstream society. Packed with fascinating details, Tom Coffman’s work enlarges our understanding of this key era in American history. -- Greg Robinson, Université du Québec à MontréalBrilliant and meticulous, Tom Coffman reveals the people and forces that spared territorial Hawai‘i’s Japanese populace from mass removal after Pearl Harbor and enabled its sons to serve America gallantly in World War II. The heroes of this true story―Ching, Yoshida, Burns, Shivers, and many more―were inspired by an idealism and aloha that the world can learn from today. Based on groundbreaking research, Coffman’s compelling account gives them recognition that they richly deserve. -- Mark Matsunaga, Hawai‘i journalist and World War II historianInclusion will reframe our understanding of World War II in significant ways. It is unlikely that a work of this breadth and magnitude will come around again anytime soon, especially as many of the historical actors interviewed by the author have already passed away. I know of no other that attempts to treat as many separate threads of historiography in a single account. This is not strictly military or cultural history, but a careful blend of a multitude of viewpoints―including a chapter on contemporaneous sociological accounts. -- Corey M. Johnson, research associate, Stanford University and affiliate faculty, University of Hawai‘i at Hilo[Inclusion] is a fascinating study of the Council for Interracial Unity, a now largely forgotten race relations group located in the then-Territory of Hawai‘i in the years surrounding World War II, and especially two of its outstanding members, the Chinese American social worker Hung Wai Ching and the Japanese American school principal Shigeo Yoshida. . . . Coffman is a dedicated researcher and skilled narrator who mixes biography and larger analysis gracefully. . . . The book has a real contribution to make to our knowledge of (Japanese) American history and the special set of forces in Hawai‘i that preserved its interracial harmony through the depths of war. -- Greg Robinson ― Nichi Bei WeeklyTom Coffman, a political journalist and leading historian of modern Hawaii, shines new light on this crucial period [before and during WWII] in his engaging book. . . . Coffman focuses heavily on three men ― social activist Hung Wai Ching, schoolteacher Shigeo Yoshida and attorney Charles Hemenway ― who saw by the late 1930s that war with Japan was inevitable. . . . The details of this period are so little known that Coffman [is] able to deftly create suspense in the storytelling even though the outcome is known. -- David Shapiro ― Honolulu Star-Advertiser Product Description Following December 7, 1941, the United States government in

Inclusion: How Hawai‘i Protected Japanese Americans from Mass Internment, Transformed Itself, and Changed America

Product Description 
Following December 7, 1941, the United States government interned 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry evicted from scattered settlements throughout the West Coast states, yet why was a much larger number concentrated in the Hawaiian Islands war zone not similarly incarcerated? At the root of the story is an inclusive community that worked from the ground up to protect an embattled segment of its population. While the onset of World War II surprised the American public, war with Japan arrived in Hawai‘i in slow motion. Responding to numerous signs of impending conflict, the Council for Interracial Unity mapped two goals: minimize internment and maximize inclusion in the war effort. The council’s aspirational work was expressed in a widely repeated saying: “How we get along during the war will determine how we get along when the war is over.” The Army Command of Hawai‘i, reassured by firsthand acquaintances, came to believe that “trust breeds trust.” Where most histories have shielded President Franklin D. Roosevelt from direct responsibility for the U.S. mainland internment, his relentless demands for a mass removal from Hawai‘i―ultimately thwarted―reveal him as author and actor. In making sense of the disparity between Island and mainland, Inclusion unravels the deep history of the U.S. “sabotage psychosis,” dissecting why many continental Americans still believe Japan succeeded at Pearl Harbor because of the unseen hand of Japanese saboteurs. Contrary to the explanation of hysteria as the cause of the internment, Inclusion documents how a high-level plan of mass removal actually was pitched to Hawai‘i prior to December 7, only to be rejected. 
 Review 
Inclusion is of singular worldwide public and academic importance. It lifts up Hawai‘i’s interethnic history to show how small groups with a common goal and working cooperatively can result in wondrous social change. -- Tetsuden Kashima, author of 
Judgment without Trial: Japanese American Imprisonment during World War II and 
Buddhism in America: The Social Organization of an Ethnic Religious Institution\nTom Coffman has broken new ground on the tragic history of Japanese American internment. Now we know the Hawai‘i chapter is a crucial part of the story―and Coffman tells it with authority and verve. -- Kai Bird, Pulitzer Prize–winning historian and director of the Leon Levy Center for Biography, CUNY Graduate Center\nTom Coffman has produced a definitive account of Americans of Japanese ancestry in Hawai‘i during World War II. His book shows how local Japanese figures such as Shigeo Yoshida joined forces with a diverse group of allies, both inside and outside official circles, to mobilize Japanese communities in support of the war and the public in support of Japanese communities. They averted the tragedy of mass confinement, such as that on the US mainland, and their success made Hawai‘i a model for inclusion of ethnic Japanese in mainstream society. Packed with fascinating details, Tom Coffman’s work enlarges our understanding of this key era in American history. -- Greg Robinson, Université du Québec à Montréal\nBrilliant and meticulous, Tom Coffman reveals the people and forces that spared territorial Hawai‘i’s Japanese populace from mass removal after Pearl Harbor and enabled its sons to serve America gallantly in World War II. The heroes of this true story―Ching, Yoshida, Burns, Shivers, and many more―were inspired by an idealism and aloha that the world can learn from today. Based on groundbreaking research, Coffman’s compelling account gives them recognition that they richly deserve. -- Mark Matsunaga, Hawai‘i journalist and World War II historian\nInclusion will reframe our understanding of World War II in significant ways. It is unlikely that a work of this breadth and magnitude will come around again anytime soon, especially as many of the historical actors interviewed by the author have already passed away. I know of no other that

Inclusion

The question, "How did the distant island kingdom of Hawaii become part of the United States?" has been buried by a combination of American mythology and American denial. But that question has taken on new urgency in context of Native Hawaiian demands for a restoration of self-government. The takeover of this independent nation of long standing was America's first confusing venture into overseas imperialism. As such, it was the antecedent to the colonization of the Philippines, the overthrow of numerous governments of weak but friendly nations and, currently, the occupation of Iraq. In 1893, only two percent of the kingdom of Hawaii's population was of American descent, but the colonizers in Hawaii and the architects of American expansion in Washington were importantly connected by common origins an intertwining of missionaries, financiers, sugar growers and politicians. Nation Within describes how, in the wake of the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893, an interim government of five years duration was established that borrowed heavily from the Jim Crow American south. In 1895, Hawaiians attempted a counterrevolution, and two hundred Hawaiians, along with their Queen, were jailed by a martial law court. After much resistance, Americans were pulled along into the imperial proposition by Theodore Roosevelt (then assistant secretary of the Navy) and the American philosopher of sea power, Alfred Mahan. Their multi-pronged strategy was based on controlling Latin America, building the Panama canal, and dominating the Pacific by controlling Hawaii. Did Native Hawaiians really go along with this, as has so ofte been claimed? The answer lay dormant nearly a hundred years in the American archive: Native petitions vigorously protesting annexation submitted by virtually every living Hawaiian. An additional six petitions were submitted to the U.S. Congress by the Hawaiian leadership. They hoped to get their country back, but their efforts were crushed by the Spanish-American War, which began not in Cuba (as most people imagine) but with destruction of the Spanish fleet in the Philippines. When American troops were committed to put down the Filipinos, Hawaii became the forward base for a new Pacific empire the sovereignty of its people and their nation extinguished.

Nation Within: The History of the American Occupation of Hawaii

Koa Books

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Coffman, Tom. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Coffman, Tom

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Coffman, Tom. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Nation Within: The History of the American Occupation of Hawai'i

Catch a wave;: A case study of Hawaii's new politics

The Island Edge of America: A Political History of Hawai'i

The Island Edge of America: A Political History of Hawai'i

I Respectfully Dissent: A Biography of Edward H. Nakamura

Tadaima! I Am Home: A Transnational Family History (Intersections: Asian and Pacific American Transcultural Studies, 33)

Tadaima! I Am Home: A Transnational Family History (Intersections: Asian and Pacific American Transcultural Studies, 33)

Inclusion: How Hawai‘i Protected Japanese Americans from Mass Internment, Transformed Itself, and Changed America

Inclusion

Nation Within: The History of the American Occupation of Hawaii