“ALOHA RODEO: THREE HAWAIIAN COWBOYS, THE WORLD’S GREATEST RODEO, AND A HIDDEN HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN WEST”

David Wolman and Julian Smith (William Morrow, $27.99)

The story of how three paniolo from the Big Island went to the Frontier Days rodeo in Cheyenne, Wyo., and beat the best that the mainland had to offer, never gets old. David Wolman and Julian Smith take their turn with it in “Aloha Rodeo,” released May 28.

“Aloha Rodeo” is three stories in one. The first is the story of cattle and cattle ranching in Hawaii, from the ill-starred arrival of the first two animals in 1793 (both died on arrival) to the glory years a century later when Parker Ranch was one of the largest ranches in the United States.

The second story is the family history of the three paniolo — Ikua Purdy, Jack Low and Archie Ka‘au‘a — and their lives before, during and after their trip to Wyoming.

The third story is the history of cattle drives and the development of cattle ranching in the American West in the years after the Civil War.

Wolman and Smith tell these fascinating stories in riveting, easy-to-read style. Unfortunately there are some significant errors of fact, and enough odd interpretations of Hawaiian history, to make their narrative less then 100% reliable.

Most notable is their assertion that the missionaries tried to “suppress” the Hawaiian language. On the contrary, it is thanks to the early missionaries that Hawaiian became a written language — and that Hawaii had one of the highest per capita literacy rates in the world for much of the 19th century, as documented in recent years by Puakea Nogelmeier, director of the Institute of Hawaiian Language Research and Translation.

Queen Lili‘uokalani introduced her proposed changes to the Constitution of Hawaii in 1893, not 1891, and the issue that sparked the criminal overthrow of the Hawaiian government that year was not giving “native Hawaiians the right to vote,” as the authors state. Hawaiians who owned property already had the right to vote.

John Wilson’s mother may not have approved of his plans to marry a woman who danced hula as commercial entertainment on the American mainland and in Europe, but saying that Wilson’s mother “forbade” him from marrying Jennie Kupahu ignores the fact that the couple did get married in 1908 and were married for almost 50 years. And describing Wilson as “white” is factually incorrect — he was hapa haole on both sides of his family.

A reference to Parker Ranch founder John Palmer Parker implies that Parker was a racist because he “cast out” his half-Hawaiian daughter after she married a Hawaiian man. Did Parker object to the man because he was Hawaiian, or for reasons that had nothing to do with race?

It is also a stretch to suggest that Kamehameha’s decision to commission the Hawaiian flag in 1816 was an attempt to “assert sovereignty” and that it “fell flat,” when the flag and the nation it represented were recognized internationally for more than 70 years.

One can only wonder what errors of fact and odd interpretations lie hidden in the chapters about Wyoming.