Kuleana

”[A] stirring debut memoir…. Goo’s heartrending saga serves as an urgent reminder that Indigenous culture is alive and braided with modern life, and that all Americans have a role in its survival.”
–Publishers Weekly

“A well-crafted work combining memoir, ethnography, history, and sharp-edged journalism.”
–Kirkus

“To people with ties to Hawaii, Goo’s story will already be familiar. But if just a fraction of the millions of annual visitors read Kuleana and get a more subtle, more accurate understanding of these singular islands, it will be a cause for celebration. A serious book by a Hawaiian journalist, from a major publishing house, is a most welcome arrival.” –Makana Eyre, The Washington Post

“Goo’s endearing narrative highlights the loving links in her multi-generational, multi-ethnic ʻohana as they come together to face a series of challenges.”
–Honolulu Civil Beat

“A powerful story of land, belonging, loss, and survival that challenges us all to think about what we are responsible for. Required reading for anyone who wants to understand the history of land in Hawaii–and for that matter, this land we now call the United States.”
–Rebecca Nagle, bestselling author of By the Fire We Carry

“In her riveting memoir, Kuleana, journalist Sara Kehaulani Goo tells us more about the difficult past of one of the most beautiful places on earth than any history book can conjure. In it, a Native Hawaiian family struggles to reclaim the ancestral lands that colonization, tourism, and rampant development threaten to overrun. A veteran reporter, Sara plumbs every aspect of this story, spooling an engrossing narrative that informs as much as it engages. It is at once a chilling and inspirational tale.”
–Marie Arana, author of American Chica and LatinoLand

“A sui generis book, Sara Kehaulani Goo’s Kuleana deftly blends memoir and reportage into a revelatory and refreshing exploration of connections–to one’s heritage, to one’s family, and to one’s home.”
–Jose Antonio Vargas, author of Dear America

“Sara Kehaulani Goo reminds us that no matter how far we Hawaiians stray away from our homeland our ancestors will continue to reach out to us and teach us forever. All we have to do is listen.”
–Lilikalā Kameʻeleihiwa, author of Nā Wāhine Kapu and Native Land and Foreign Desires

“As an Asian American author, it’s important that we write our own histories and tell our own stories that show how different we are–that we are not a monolith. Sara’s story is a uniquely AAPI one–from Hawai’i where the Asian American experience is different from the U.S. Mainland experience. I love that she brings that story into the American narrative–to be seen and to be known.”
–Curtis Chin, author of Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant

“By telling the story of her own family, Sara shines light on the many who experience the similar injustice of being displaced from their land, and the wound it inflicts deep into the essence of one’s personal history, culture and, therefore, identity. Sara shares her story with courage, aloha and gratitude which brings the reader closer to the heart of this experience and the pull of kuleana. Kuleana is more than a story, it’s what will help navigate the healing for all native people, not just in Hawai’i but around the world.”
–Nainoa Thompson, Pwo Navigator and CEO of Polynesian Voyaging Society

Sara Kehaulani Goo is a journalist and senior news executive who has led several news organizations including Axios, NPR, and The Washington Post. She is the former editor-in-chief at Axios, where she launched the company’s editorial expansion into national and local newsletters, podcasts and live journalism. Before Axios, she led online audience growth as a managing editor at NPR, overseeing the newsroom’s digital news operation. Goo also served as news director at The Washington Post, where she also served as a business editor and reporter. Originally from Dana Point, California, she graduated from the University of Minnesota’s journalism school. She lives in Washington, D.C.

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