"Big Happiness is very vital to our group. Mark Panek’s biography of Percy Kipapa speaks to the results of the destruction of Hawai‘i’s rural neighborhoods, unchecked improvement, the ice epidemic, the mess ups of presidency, sumo, elaborate kin and neighbor relationships, and extra. what's such a lot amazing is Panek’s skill to weave all of those complicated issues jointly in a unbroken narrative that connects all of the dots. half secret, half investigative journalism, half poignant Island portrait, this paintings includes an emotional point that binds the reader to the themes in a dignified but touching approach, exhibiting compassion or even affection for individuals whereas revealing their flaws and shortcomings. This ebook will resonate with an Island viewers and with a person drawn to Hawai‘i." —Victoria Kneubuhl, Hawai‘i author and playwright
"This booklet tells of private triumphs and screw ups, and likewise the triumphs and screw ups of households, groups, corporations, companies, governments, and church buildings facing the a number of results of ‘progress’ in modern Hawai‘i. there were heroes and villains in any respect levels—frequently, an identical participants and enterprises are either whilst. the tale of Percy Kipapa is mainly poignant simply because expert sumo gave him a different chance to go beyond Hawai‘i’s tradition of colonialism, racism, poverty, and drug dependancy, which in any case all introduced him down besides. Mark Panek has performed a masterful activity of weaving those strands together."—Reverend Bob Nakata, former Hawai‘i kingdom senator
"Spanning the historical past of Waikane and the brutality of Japan’s nationwide game, enormous Happiness is a remarkably formidable piece that hyperlinks one man’s homicide to the ice epidemic, land improvement, and political corruption in Hawai‘i. Mark Panek’s meticulously researched, skillfully written, heartbreaking tale, jam-packed with voices that ring real, is an indictment of a complete procedure that overwhelmed a steady titanic. whereas different Hawai‘i writers live in ‘take me again to da kine’ nostalgia, Panek tells it love it relatively is." —Chris McKinney, writer of The Tattoo and Mililani Mauka.