Within the limited space of an acknowledgments page, I wish to express my enormous gratitude to Glenn Mott and Bob Weil, whose guidance and support were vital to this book. Ever since we first met on a muggy afternoon in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in the summer of 1992, Glenn has been a friend in the truest sense of the word. An accomplished writer himself, Glenn has also been a guardian angel in my literary life, someone I can trust for honest opinions, editorial advice, and moral support. Without him, this book would not exist.
Having Bob Weil as my editor at Norton makes me feel like a fledgling actor working in a film directed by Alfred Hitchcock or Billy Wilder. Bob is a maestro who has a vision for books, a sharp eye for details, and an incredible devotion to his authors. His superb line-editing, unique in the publishing world today, possesses the touch of magic. He is simply the Maxwell Perkins of our time.
I also wish to thank Lucas Wittmann and Philip Marino at Norton for their excellent editorial guidance; Susan M. Schultz for that memorable drive in Honolulu, searching for the traces of Chang Apana; Officer Eddie Croom, curator of the Honolulu Police Department Museum, for his kind assistance with research; Nanette Napoleon, a devoted Hawaiian historian, for her generosity in sharing the fruits of her labor with me; and Gilbert Martines for his pioneering research on Chang Apana.
My friend Hank Lazer lent a helpful hand at a critical stage of my writing and offered some valuable advice. Katy Olson provided excellent editorial assistance. Mark Johnson generously read the manuscript with care and offered insightful remarks. Others who also helped in various ways include Mia You, Dave Roh, Rucker Alex, Michael Basinski, and Deborah Aaronson.
Kathleen Brandes, the final gatekeeper of my writing for this book, is simply the best copyeditor it has ever been my fortune to work with.
The following people at various institutions have also most ably and generously assisted me in accessing precious images and research materials: Cherry Williams, curator of the Lilly Library at Indiana University; Trinh Dang at Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation; Cynthia Engle at the Bishop Museum in Honolulu; Alison Rigney at the Everett Collection in New York; Yessenia Santos at Simon & Schuster; Kawehi Yim at the Hawaiian Humane Society; George Lee at the Honolulu Star-Bulletin; and Dorinda Hartmann at the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research.
The writing of this book coincided with the yearlong Fulbright residencies in Santa Barbara of Professor Dongfeng Wang and Professor Chunyan Chen, a great Chinese couple from Canton. Their visit brought China back to me, and their friendship nurtured my soul as much as their cooking nourished my body.
I have left for last my acknowledgment of the deepest bond, the two stars that, despite the distance, light up my lonely night sky: my children, Isabelle and Ira. Their absence from my daily life leaves a vacuum that can never be filled by phone calls, postcards, or even frequent visits. In some ways, it is for them that I sit down every day, open a vein, and write my heart out.