FIFTEEN HUNDRED PROTESTORS LINE KAUA‘I’S PIER. Dozens more leap onto surfboards, boogie boards, and canoes, risking their lives to stop the oncoming colossus: the high-speed Hawaii Superferry riding in on a wave of deception and collusion. The protesters block the ship, and force it back to Honolulu. But why such outrage?… Over a ferryboat?

The Superferry Chronicles tells the untold story of the Hawaii Superferry project — a local issue with profound global implications.

Bay Area author Jerry Mander, director of the International Forum on Globalization, joins with Hawaii activist and filmmaker Koohan Paik, for this riveting report on the successful local uprising in Hawaii against a corrupt, global corporate-military scheme with devastating environmental impacts — a fuel-guzzling catamaran that courses through whale sanctuaries at three times the speed the federal government considers safe. Partly investigative journalism, partly cultural-political history of militarization in the Pacific, partly an account of an inspiring popular resistance, the book is a searing indictment of a project illegally pushed by Republican Governor Linda Lingle in support of powerful, right-wing New York military financier John Lehman, who is chair of Superferry’s board and whose investment company owns the Hawaii Superferry Corp. A prominent neocon, former Navy Secretary under Ronald Reagan, and public advocate of winnable nuclear war, Lehman and his colleagues have been promoting the Superferry as a neighborly inter-island transport service, but the project clearly seems to have far more to do with U.S. military aspirations in the Pacific. The local heroes are the people of Kaua’i, led by surfers into a spectacular demonstration of mass opposition, leaping into the waters to block the environmentally disastrous juggernaut. Critic Gar Smith: “It’s like Battle of Seattle meets Baywatch.”

Jerry Mander is well known to Bay Area folks, author of Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television, In the Absence of the Sacred and several recent books about globalization, he is always a welcome presence hereabouts.

He’ll be appearing to talk about the Hawaiian Superferry in many bookstores in Northern California.

“An excoriating exposé.” — Jeanne Cooper, San Francisco Chronicle weblog, “Hawaii Insider”

“Written like an activist documentary film, with heroes and villains, outrage and conspiracies.” — Lee Cataluna, Honolulu Advertiser

“Dive into a story of almost allegoric proportions. Let it embolden you to stand up for our Earth, its beauty and its creatures, including ourselves.” — Frances Moore Lappé, author Diet for a Small Planet and Hope’s Edge

“The idea of boats to connect the Hawaiian Islands is so natural and lovely that it makes one doubly mad to read how in this case it’s been perverted into yet one more sad scheme for our paranoid future. Good for you–people of Hawai’i–who’ve raised the alarm, and to these authors for pulling back the curtain.” — Bill McKibben, author Deep Economy

“I applaud the authors for bringing the voices of the grassroots to the foreground. The people make history, and the people of Kaua’I have made us proud. Kauli’i makou, nui ke aloha no ka ‘aina. (’We are small in numbers, but our love for our land is great.’)” — Ikaika Hussey, Publisher, The Hawaii Independent

“In every era, simple events become symbols of greater forces that shape human history. The Superferry Chronicles brings one such moment alive. The book captures the spirit of that defining event and reveals the corporate manipulation, political bullying, corruption and deceit that lay behind the Hawaii Superferry.” — Lucienne de Naie, Chair, Sierra Club, Hawaii

Jerry Mander is director of the International Forum on Globalization, and author of the best sellers: Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television, In the Absence of the Sacred, and the Case Against the Global Economy. The New York Times has called him “the patriarch of the anti-globalization movement.” Co-author Koohan Paik is an award-winning Hawaii filmmaker and social and environmental activist. Her most recent films include the feature length re-enactment of the life of the most famous Hawaiian resistance leader of the 1800s, “The True Story of Kaluaikoolau,” as well as very popular YouTube videos including, “Greensumption” and “Discover Kauai.”

For more information, visit www.superferrychronicles.com.
Published by Arnie Kotler at Koa Books. Cover drawing by Mayumi Oda. Book Design by Daniela Sklan, Hummingbird Design.

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