From the Desk of the Attorney General

From the Desk of the Attorney General: A Memoir by David M. Louie
Softcover, 184 pp
Release Date: October 2021
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David M. Louie had been a civil trial lawyer in private practice for thirty-two years when he was named Hawai‘i’s attorney general by Governor Neil Abercrombie in 2010. What followed was an eye-opening education in the nature of government—how it works and how the sausage of government policy is made. His historic koa wood desk in Hawai‘i’s state capitol gave Louie a frontrow seat for viewing—and shaping—the inner workings of government. In this incisive, behind-the-scenes memoir, the country’s first Chinese American state attorney general recalls the landmark cases of his time in office—environmental issues, Native Hawaiian rights, Internet safety, same sex marriage, human trafficking and even the unlikely concert hoax known as the “Wonder Blunder.”

From the Desk of the Attorney General is Louie’s chronicle of his experiences as a public servant—the challenges faced, the insights gained, the lessons learned. His behind-the-scenes account of the way things really get done—how issues are addressed and decisions made, how goals are achieved and power wielded—provides an inside look at the role of the top lawyer in state government, the decision maker who operates at the intersection of law, politics and government.

This book is a customized version of the Professional Package, with increased print run, in hardcover with dustjacket.

From the Desk of the Attorney General is available via our online store and at local bookstores

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Beyond the Lines

Beyond the Lines by Rusty Komori

Beyond the Lines: Creating a Leadership Culture to Achieve Extraordinary Results
by Rusty Komori

Softcover, 112 pp
Release Date: December 2017
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Beyond the Lines offers a game plan for any leader to help an organization achieve and sustain success. In direct, simple terms, author Rusty Komori lays out a path for achievement and excellence in leadership, drawing from notable examples in sports history, as well as his own experience during more than two decades as a successful, championship-winning tennis coach.

Rusty Komori is a motivational speaker, leadership consultant, and tennis professional based in Honolulu, Hawai‘i. From 1994 through 2015, he was the head tennis coach at Punahou School, where his boys’ varsity teams won an unprecedented 22 consecutive state championships, a national record in all sports that still stands. His books are a component of his speaking engagements, providing lasting lessons and a reminder of Komori’s consulting services.

This book is a customized version of the Professional Package, with increased print run.

Beyond the Lines is available via our online store, local bookstores and via online booksellers.

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Can, No Can!

Can, No Can! by Fred Hemmings
Can, No Can! Making Changes, Hawaiian-Style by Fred Hemmings
Softcover, 108 pp
Release Date: July 2020
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In Can, No Can! Making Changes, Hawaiian-Style, longtime Hawai‘i state senator and world champion surfer Fred Hemmings offers a calabash full of ideas for the future of the Islands, including a sprinkling of “random thoughts” and yes-or-no options from a local boy’s perspective. “A dear friend, Chubby Mitchell, was a graceful surfer and a man of aloha,” Hemmings explains. “Whenever I’d get frustrated by something, he would look at me and say, ‘Freddie, if can, can. If no can, no can.’ All these years later, I surmise that this pragmatic outlook on life contributed significantly to the aloha of bygone days.”

The book is compilation of Hemmings’s essays, letters, legislation, statements to the press and news clips spanning the years, including hot-button items still as relevant today as they were then. Says Hemmings, “I always have believed that there are good solutions to Hawai‘i’s problems and that there’s usually a better way to do things. Unfortunately, we in the Islands get caught up in the dilemma expressed by, of all people, Albert Einstein, in the mid-20th century. To paraphrase Einstein, ‘Doing the same thing and expecting different results defines insanity.’ Maybe it is time to do some things differently in Hawai‘i.”

This book is a customized version of the Professional Package, with increased print run.

Can, No Can! Making Changes, Hawaiian-Style is available via our online store and at local bookstores

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Educating with Aloha

Educating with Aloha by Jan Iwase
Softcover, 176 pp
Release Date: August 2021
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In Educating with Aloha: Reflections from the Heart on Teaching and Learning—her second book drawing upon the wisdom of 45 years as an educator—Jan Iwase offers fresh insights into creating caring school communities. Packed with succinct advice and thought-provoking anecdotes, Educating with Aloha is Iwase’s follow-up to Leading with Aloha: From the Pineapple Fields to the Principal’s Office, her 2019 book that laid the groundwork for filling schools and classrooms with happy students, empowered teachers and involved parents. A longtime Hawai‘i public school teacher and principal, she envisions a system of learning in which teachers and students alike develop a passion for education. For Iwase, “Educating with Aloha” is more than a catchphrase; it embodies her career-long method of cultivating the best in adults and children through respectful interaction and cooperative effort.

A one-time district elementary principal of the year, Iwase rose through the ranks of Hawai‘i’s educational system, beginning in the Head Start program and ending her teaching years as principal of Daniel K. Inouye Elementary School. “After Leading with Aloha, I was often asked when I would write a second book,” Iwase recalls. “Frankly, I had not given it any thought, but when COVID-19 hit, I found myself with the time to think and reflect. As a retired educator, one of my major concerns was how this pandemic would impact our students, teachers, school leaders, and schools in general. This is the perfect time to discuss how to make schools more relevant in the 21st century.”

This book is a customized version of the Professional Package, with increased print run.

Educating with Aloha is available via our online store, local bookstores and via online booksellers.

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Beyond the Game


Beyond the Game: Coaching for Peak Performance in Business, Sports, and Life
by Rusty Komori

Softcover, 128 pp
Release Date: April 2020
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Beyond the Game: Coaching for Peak Performance in Business, Sports, and Life builds on the lessons outlined by championship coach Rusty Komori in his first book, Beyond the Lines. In Beyond the Game, Komori provides a toolbox for those who aspire to lead successful teams. Coaches, he says, strive to improve themselves first, to provide a foundation for instilling greatness in others. Smart coaches pay attention to what Komori calls the Three Cs of Leadership—Choices, Communication and Culture—and apply the Six Keys for Peak Performance—areas of focus to achieve the most and excel in life. Komori offers advice in direct, straightforward terms and draws examples from his decades as a successful, championship-winning tennis coach.

Rusty Komori is a motivational speaker, leadership consultant, and tennis professional based in Honolulu, Hawai‘i. From 1994 through 2015, he was the head tennis coach at Punahou School, where his boys’ varsity teams won an unprecedented 22 consecutive state championships, a national record in all sports that still stands. His books are a component of his speaking engagements, providing lasting lessons and a reminder of Komori’s consulting services.

This book is a customized version of the Professional Package, with increased print run.

Beyond the Game is available via our online store, local bookstores and via online booksellers.

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A Saint Louis Man

A Saint Louis Man: The Story of Hawai‘i’s Ray Tam by Lance Tominaga

Hardcover w/ dustjacket, 128 pp
Release Date: September 2013
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Attorney Ray Tam always regretted that his paternal grandparents passed away without leaving any record of their long and interesting lives, and thus resolved to leave his own story for his children and grandchildren. Working with biographer Lance Tominaga—author of the Clarence T.C. Ching biography A Prophecy Fulfilled—Tam pays tribute to the life lessons learned at alma mater Saint Louis School with his own book, A Saint Louis Man. Also greatly inspired by his father, who left school after the fourth grade to help support his family (“You will be what I cannot be!” he told Ray), Tam went from country town to big-city courtroom to the People’s Republic of China, in a career that included guiding a Hawai’i law firm employing some of the biggest names in Hawai’i law and politics, raising the bar in personal injury litigation, and establishing the China Program, a celebrated international effort which assists the Chinese in the drafting of their laws and the establishment of the Rule of Law in China.

This type of book can be created with the ‘Ohana Package or Professional Package, customized to have a hardcover with dustjacket.

A Saint Louis Man: The Story of Hawai‘i’s Ray Tam is available via our online store and at local bookstores.

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Judge Arthur S.K. Fong

Judge Arthur S.K. Fong: Living A Life That Matters by Jerry Burris

Hardcover w/ dustjacket, 112 pp
Release Date: July 2014
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Judge Arthur S.K. Fong’s memoir, Judge Arthur S.K. Fong: Living A Life That Matters, takes its title from one of his favorite poems, “A Life That Matters.” Living a life that matters doesn’t happen by accident. / It’s not a matter of circumstances, but of choice. / Choose to live a life that matters. “There are always periods of high and low moments in life,” Judge Fong observes. “In my professional life, we are proudest when tough problems are solved. I have lived and participated in the most dramatic, exciting time in Hawaiian history. Some of the records of what happened during those years are forever lost. Most of my contemporaries are now long gone, or their memories faded. I wanted my story to be written so my great-grandchildren and the generations to follow would have some insight into my involvement in Hawai‘i’s history.” Fong also credits the “constant, insistent prodding” of his eldest son, Peter, with motivating him to work with veteran biographer Jerry Burris to chronicle his life story.

After earning a law degree and a masters in business administration from the University of Michigan, Fong, the grandson of Chinese immigrants, went on to distinguish himself in the legal profession, imposing strict standards of professionalism upon himself and those around him. As a confidant of such leaders as Governors William F. Quinn, John A. Burns and George R. Ariyoshi, he helped guide the Islands into statehood and through the challenging years that followed.

This type of book can be created with the ‘Ohana Package or Professional Package, customized to have a hardcover with dustjacket.

Judge Arthur S.K. Fong: Living A Life That Matters is available via our online store and at local bookstores.

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The Greater Good

The Greater Good – Life Lessons from Hawai‘i’s Leaders by Evan and Keri Leong

Softcover, 220 pp
Release Date: November 2007
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Business owners Evan and Kari Leong wanted a companion book product featuring guests they had hosted on their community-orientated radio show, Greater Good Radio, and television shows, Greater Good TV and Greater Good Moments, to extend their Greater Good brand: After hundreds of hours of interviews for the shows, the Leongs realized that the foundation of success is built upon seven core values. They took the interviews and divided them into chapters illustrating these core values to create a book that complements the guests’ appearances on the Greater Good shows and shares the Greater Good philosophy.

Aimed at students, budding entrepreneurs, established businessmen, career men and women, and ordinary individuals struggling to find meaning in their lives, The Greater Good – Life Lessons from Hawai‘i’s Leaders blends instructional, motivational and inspirational anecdotes from some of the most successful business and community leaders in Hawai‘i.

This book is a customized version of the Professional Package, with increased print run. The client also did a short run printing of a hardcover edition.

To purchase The Greater Good, visit the Greater Good book site.

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Hawai‘i’s Future

Hawai‘i’s Future
Softcover, 120 pp
Release Date: September 2020
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Hawai‘i’s future has been a growing concern for former governor George Ariyoshi for many years. In an interview with Civil Beat, Ariyoshi said, “I’m doing my book because I’m very concerned about the future,” he said. “I feel the future is not being addressed. And by that I mean the problems come up and people are not trying to address the problems.”

In his book, Hawai‘i’s Future, Ariyoshi poses the questions: “Are we doing this the right way? Can we do better?” Known for his leadership in long-range planning, the former governor offers a sweeping vision for managing growth and shaping Hawai‘i’s future for the generations to come.

The 120-page softcover book is a customized version of the Professional Package, with increased print run.

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Yes! A Memoir of Modern Hawaii

Yes! A Memoir of Modern Hawaii
Yes! A Memoir of Hawaii by Walter A. Dods Jr., with Gerry Keir and Jerry Burris

Softcover, 256 pp
Release Date: December 2015

An avid philanthropist, Dods is donating all of his income from sales of his memoir to Aloha United Way.

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Politics, business and community interests often collide in modern Hawaii. In a small island state, there is no way to avoid it. One man who stood at the intersection of these three waves throughout his career is banker Walter Dods Jr.

Dods was born in Honolulu just before Pearl Harbor, the first of seven children in a close-knit family that struggled to pay its bills. From those modest beginnings, Dods grew to play a role in the modern history of Hawaii. He helped to sustain a political dynasty through his work for the campaigns of Gov. George Ariyoshi and Sen. Dan Inouye. He built the state’s largest and most successful business, First Hawaiian Bank/BancWest Corporation. His focus on community service and charitable fundraising has helped to support a society too often fractured by the divide between an immigrant, plantation past and the more modern forces of contemporary America.

This memoir describes many of the steps – and occasional missteps – along the way and concludes with Dods’ observations on the nature of power and ways in which Hawaii’s next generation can find success while staying true to “local values.”

This book is a customized version of the Professional Package, with increased print run and endflaps added to the softcover.

Yes! A Memoir of Hawaii is available via our online store and at local bookstores.

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