“Facing the Spears of Change: The Life and Letters of John Papa ‘I‘i”

Marie Alohalani Brown

University of Hawai‘i Press, $27

Given the major role in Hawaii history and letters played by John Papa ‘I‘i, political leader and trusted kahu and counselor to rulers of the kingdom until his death in 1870, readers of a fascinating new biography might be amazed to discover that he never became fluent in English.

In the 1820s the quick-witted, perceptive young ‘I‘i was one of the first to learn to read and write from American missionaries, and went on to write all his letters and essays in Hawaiian, notes Marie Alohalani Brown in her scholarly but engaging “Facing the Spears of Change: The Life and Letters of John Papa ‘I‘i.”

Brown’s illuminating biography begins with a useful timeline that gives a quick overview of the in-depth chapters to follow.

Born in Waipio, Oahu, in 1800, ‘I‘i was considered poolua — a child with two fathers — because his mother had two male partners at the time, Brown explains.

“Her family fondly called her Pahulemu, or Shoved From Behind, for her poor surfing skills,” she wrote.

Ten years old when Kamehameha I became king, ‘I‘i’s remarkable life straddled two almost inconceivably different eras in a rapidly westernizing Hawaii. As he recounts in his eloquent “Fragments of Hawaiian History,” a collection of essays he wrote for the Hawaiian-language newspaper Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, his career started as a servant boy who narrowly escaped his older brother’s fate of being executed for spilling the contents of the king’s spittoon.

From there he became kahu to Liholiho and later to the Chiefs’ Children’s School, and was appointed to Kauikeaouli’s alii council along with such high-ranking chiefs as Kaahumanu, Boki, Paki and Kinau.

He went as hostage aboard a hostile Western ship in Honolulu Harbor, confronted and repelled rioting sailors in the streets when the kingdom banned visits of Hawaiian women aboard ships, and helped end the occupation of Hawaii by a rogue British captain and expedite the restoration of the monarchy in 1843.

He was a member of the Hawaiian kingdom’s privy council and house of nobles, co-treasurer of the kingdom and a supreme court justice.

In 1869 ‘I‘i fathered his first biological child, a baby girl, with his fourth wife, a year before he died of scarlet fever.

Brown, a thorough researcher and discerning writer, captures the drama of the tactical battles the enterprising ‘I‘i fought to stay in favor with a succession of rulers and defend the interests of his beloved Hawaiian people.

Her title refers to an exhibition of a traditional martial art in which, at the age of 47 and dressed in a black Western business suit, ‘I‘i faced 20 men and caught, in his bare hands, the long spears they hurled at him.

Brown’s excellent book casts a long-overdue light upon the personal life and brilliant career of a loyal, modest, courageous man.

Meet the author at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at the King Kamehameha V Judiciary History Center, 417 S. King St.