For anyone who wants to get the feel for the Hawai‘i that Barack Obama grew up in, and wants to see for him or herself the places that shaped the improbable candidate for the country's highest office - there's a new book by veteran HAWAII Magazine contributor Ron Jacobs, called OBAMALAND: Who Is Barack Obama?

The book breaks the island of O‘ahu into six “O-Zones,” each indicated by a strawberry shave ice on six detailed O-Zone maps. They mark more than 100 points of interest for those interested in tracing Obama’s background—from the now famous apartment on 1617 South Beretania St., where he lived with his grandparents, to the former Sunset Lounge, where his father hung out with fellow students in the1960s.

If even Plains, Georgia, could became a visitor attraction during the Carter years, so certainly can O‘ahu, which boasts such already established sites as Punchbowl Cemetery (where Obama’s grandfather is buried), Manoa Falls (where young Obama would hike) and the Pali Lookout and USS Arizona Memorial (which Obama visited on his 2008 summer vacation).

Beyond the maps and sites, OBAMALAND: Who Is Barack Obama? paints a rich, detailed picture of Hawai‘i from 1959, when Barack Obama, Sr. arrived to study at the University of Hawai'i, to 1979 when his son left the Islands for college. It’s profusely illustrated, with family photos of Obama never seen before as well as then-and-now photography of O‘ahu sites, drawn from Hawai‘i archivist DeSoto Brown of the Bishop Museum and the author's network of kama'aina (old time) sources.

“This is not a traditional ‘book,’" says Jacobs. He calls it “a transmedia assemblage with lots more than a little help from my friends here and off-Island.”

It contains art, guest comments, memoirs, poetry, nostalgic local ephemera and even an essay on the history of shave ice. Contributors include Congressman Neil Abercrombie, who hung out with Obama’s father during his UH days; Hawaiian scholar Puakea Nogelmeier, who wrote in English and Hawaiian; Honolulu DJ Bart DaSilva, who was in Barack Obama’s homeroom at Punahou; Cameron Crowe, writer-director of the films Almost Famous and Jerry Maguire; author David Maraniss' observations about "Barry" Obama's time at Punahou School; and artists Dietrich Varez, Mark N. Brown and Lee Samson who created new works for the project.

OBAMALAND: Who Is Barack Obama? is based on tenacious reporting and doesn’t try to sugarcoat Obama’s story. In fact, it’s likely to stir some controversy in Hawai‘i. The book points out where Obama and his friends hid to go choomin’, Punahou slang for smoking marijuana. And it contains a memoir by the only other black student at Punahou when Obama entered there in fourth grade, Joella Edwards, reliving for the first time the discrimination she experienced at that most prestigious of Hawai‘i schools. (Edwards has never before spoken publicly. She’s a character in Obama’s Dreams from My Father, under the name Coretta.)

Jacobs was working on OBAMALAND: Who Is Barack Obama? long before it seemed certain that Obama would be nominated. It’s the only book about Obama (besides his own) written by someone born in Hawai‘i. Jacobs attended Punahou as well as public schools.

John Heckathorn
Editor, HAWAI'I Magazine
January 2009