The Makawao History Museum is pleased to announce an eagerly awaited event! David Wolman, author of
Aloha Rodeo: Three Hawaiian Cowboys, the World's Greatest Rodeo, and a Hidden History of the American West
, will be coming to Makawao! This event is scheduled for Sunday June 14th, 2020 at 4pm across from the museum at the Designing Wahine lot.
The book chronicles the seldom known history of the three Hawaiian Cowboys (Ikua Purdy, Jack Low, and Archie Ka'au'a), who competed in the World Championship Rodeo at Frontier Days in Cheyenne, Wyoming. These Paniolo challenged the romanticized cowboy stereotype and even after sweeping through the competition (Purdy becoming the steer-roping world champion of the world), it took nearly a century for Purdy to be inducted in the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum's Rodeo Hall of Fame.
These three men rose to legendary status, "the first superstars of twentieth-century Hawaii." Today, they are still remembered as men of mythic deeds; songs, statue and paintings memorialize them and their epic accomplishments.
Author David Wolman is a Contributing Editor at Outside and has also written for publications such as the New York Times, New Yorker, Wall Street Journal, BusisnessWeek, and Nature. We are eager to hear of his insights into writing this book with Julian Smith and talk story.