No Mākou ka Mana: Liberating the Nation

Winner - 2015 Samuel M. Kamakau Award for Hawai‘i Book of the Year


Winner - 2015 Ka Palapala Po‘okela Award of Excellence in Hawaiian Language, Culture and History



No Mākou ka Mana asserts that the founders of the Hawaiian Kingdom exercised their own agency and were not just acted upon by foreign powers. The ruling ali‘i selectively appropriated tools and ideas from the West—including laws, religion, educational models, protocols, weapons, printing and map-making technologies, seafaring vessels, clothing, names, and international alliances. The result? A hybrid system based on an enduring tradition of Hawaiian governance intended to preserve, strengthen, and maintain the lāhui. Using rare primary documents and "‘Ōiwi optics," Kamanamaikalani Beamer offers a new point of reference for understanding the motivations, methods and accomplishments of Hawai‘i’s great leaders. 


"No Mākou ka Mana is exhaustively researched, carefully written, and powerfully argued...a major contribution to Hawaiian history and Hawaiian studies...The clear analysis, engaging narrative, and original voice will serve as inspiration to other small nations and indigenous peoples the world over." —Noenoe Silva 


"Beamerʻs study highlights native agency in the face of Western imperialism. This is a dicey political trade-off for Kānaka Maoli, who must sacrifice the role of victim—and its political potential for reparation—in order to explore the nature of native cooperation and engagement with Europeans and Americans and their nineteenth-century imperialist agendas...Ultimately, if we are to have a clearer sense of what colonialism really is in the modern age—not just about conquest, but more about influence and hegemony—we need this book." —Jonathan Kay Kamakawiwo‘ole Osorio