Audio only
Aloha Rodeo
Three Hawaiian Cowboys, the World's Greatest Rodeo, and a Hidden History of the American WestBy David Wolman, Julian SmithNarrated by Kaleo Griffith
Length6h 15m
About this audiobook
In August 1908, three unknown riders arrived in Cheyenne, Wyoming, their hats adorned with wildflowers, to compete in the world’s greatest rodeo. Steer-roping virtuoso Ikua Purdy and his cousins Jack Low and Archie Ka’au’a had travelled 4,200 miles from Hawaii, of all places, to test themselves against the toughest riders in the West. Dismissed by whites, who considered themselves the only true cowboys, the native Hawaiians would astonish the country, returning home champions—and American legends.
An unforgettable human drama set against the rough-knuckled frontier, David Wolman and Julian Smith’s Aloha Rodeo unspools the fascinating and little-known true story of the Hawaiian cowboys, or paniolo, whose 1908 adventure upended the conventional history of the American West.
What few understood when the three paniolo rode into Cheyenne is that the Hawaiians were no underdogs. They were the product of a deeply engrained cattle culture that was twice as old as that of the Great Plains, for Hawaiians had been chasing cattle over the islands’ rugged volcanic slopes and through thick tropical forests since the late 1700s.
Tracing the life story of Purdy and his cousins, Wolman and Smith delve into the dual histories of ranching and cowboys in the islands, and the meteoric rise and sudden fall of Cheyenne, “Holy City of the Cow.” At the turn of the twentieth century, larger-than-life personalities like “Buffalo Bill” Cody and Theodore Roosevelt capitalized on a national obsession with the Wild West and helped transform Cheyenne’s annual Frontier Days celebration into an unparalleled rodeo spectacle, the “Daddy of ‘em All.”
The hopes of all Hawaii rode on the three riders’ shoulders during those dusty days in August 1908. The U.S. had forcibly annexed the islands just a decade earlier. The young Hawaiians brought the pride of a people struggling to preserve their cultural identity and anxious about their future under the rule of overlords an ocean away. In Cheyenne, they didn’t just astound the locals; they also overturned simplistic thinking about cattle country, the binary narrative of “cowboys versus Indians,” and the very concept of the Wild West. Blending sport and history, while exploring questions of identity, imperialism, and race, Aloha Rodeo spotlights an overlooked and riveting chapter in the saga of the American West.
Audiobook details
GenreHistory, Other
Length6 hrs 15 mins
Narrated byKaleo Griffith
FormatAudiobook
Publish dateMay 28, 2019
LanguageEnglish
The Gulag Archipelago Volume 3Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn21h 56m$46 · $0.00
The Redeemer’s ReturnArthur W. Pink13h 18m$20
The Happiest Man on EarthEddie Jaku3h 48m$7 · $0.00
MotherlandJulia Ioffe17h 52m$40 · $0.00
Where Cowards Go to DieBenjamin Sledge8h 42m$20 · $0.00
Frederick Douglass: All 3 Memoirs in One VolumeFrederick Douglass44h 9m$2 · $0.00
I've Been to the MountaintopMartin Luther King48m5 (1)$11 · $0.00
RevolutionariesSanjeev Sanyal11h 23m$29 · $0.00
We Crossed a Bridge and It TrembledWendy Pearlman6h$24 · $0.00
Unbroken Bonds of BattleJohnny Joey Jones8h 31m$8 · $0.00
The Red RecordIda B. Wells-Barnett2h 9m$2 · $0.00
The Daughter of AuschwitzTova Friedman, Malcolm Brabant7h 54m$26 · $0.00
Lily's PromiseLily Ebert, Dov Forman8h 54m$29 · $0.00
Saving My EnemyBob Welch9h 11m$20
On Democracies and Death CultsDouglas Murray10h 38m$29 · $0.00
Across the RiverKent Babb11h 40m$29 · $0.00
Balcony Over Jerusalem: A Middle East Memoir - Israel, Palestine and BeyondJohn Lyons12h 37m$33 · $0.00
The Fire Next TimeJames Baldwin2h 25m$15
EnduranceAlfred Lansing6h 1m$20
LES MISERABLES (Illustrated Edition)Victor Hugo66h 17m$1 · $0.00
The Holy Bible - 1 SamuelKing James2h 13m3 (1)$3 · $0.00
KJV Holy BibleBroadStreet Publishing Group LLC96h 16m$10 · $0.00
Book of ColossiansUnknown Author16m$8
The American Standard Bible — The Gospel of MatthewMatthew3h 56m$2 · $0.00
Everyday Chanakya | Time Management S01E08Radhakrishnan Pillai42m$4
Bad Fat Black GirlSesali Bowen6h 32m$24 · $0.00
The King James Audio Bible New Testament CompleteChristopher Glyn20h 2m5 (1)$12 · $0.00
Faiths CheckbookCharles Spurgeon12h 44m$11 · $0.00
Ten Things I Wish You Knew About Your Child's Mental HealthDr. Billy Garvey4h 53m$20 · $0.00
Be Wild Be FreeAmber Fossey26m$7 · $0.00
Designing Terry Pratchett’s DiscworldPaul Kidby3h 52m$20 · $0.00
The Chosen Book OneAmanda Jenkins, Kristen Hendricks, Dallas Jenkins3h 8m$10 · $0.00
The Lives of BrianBrian Johnson9h 45m$29 · $0.00
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the HorseCharlie Mackesy58m$11 · $0.00
Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of LukeJ.C. Ryle27h 13m$18 · $0.00
My First Beethoven AlbumNaxos1h 23m$6 · $0.00
CrossroadsKaleb Dahlgren7h 56m$26 · $0.00
Across the RiverKent Babb11h 40m$29 · $0.00
Brain Training for RidersAndrea Monsarrat Waldo5h 56m$19 · $0.00
My Effin' LifeGeddy Lee17h 11m5 (1)$40 · $0.00
You may also like
By the Rivers of WaterErskine Clarke17h 39m$23
True Stories of History and BiographyNathaniel Hawthorne8h 26m$2.30
The ExplorersAmanda Bellows9h 41m$29 · $0.00
Seven League BootsRichard Halliburton11h 56m$1 · $0.00
Peaks of ShalaRose Wilder Lane10h 11m$2 · $0.00
Stories of Great Americans for Little AmericansEdward Eggleston3h 5m$2 · $0.00
SacajaweaJoseph Bruchac6h 15m$20
From Peking to MandalayReginald Fleming Sir Johnston16h 10m$1 · $0.00
The Spinster, the Rebel, and the GovernorCharlene Bell Dietz12h 30m$25 · $0.00
Beautiful Philippines: A Handbook of General InformationPhilippine Islands. Commission of Independence8h 24m$1 · $0.00
West Like LightningJim DeFelice8h 49m$29 · $0.00
True Stories of Wonderful DeedsAnonymous1h 1m$2 · $0.00
French enterprise in AfricaHourst10h 19m$2 · $0.00
A Fire in the Belly of HineamaruMelinda Webber, Te Kapua O'Connor5h 49m$40 · $0.00
The Purple LandW. H. Hudson10h 52m$2 · $0.00
A Narrative of the Life of David CrockettDavid Crockett5h 34m$1 · $0.00
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly - 175+ Western Novels & Short Stories in One EditionMark Twain, James Fenimore Cooper, Max Brand, James Oliver Curwood, B. M. Bower, Zane Grey, Jackson Gregory, Jack London, William MacLeod Raine, William Patterson White, Rex Beach, Emerson Hough, Will Lillibridge, Andy Adams, Bret Harte, Owen Wister, Washington Irving, Willa Cather, O. Henry, Grace Livingston Hill, Charles King, Charles Alden Seltzer, Stephen Crane, Dane Coolidge, Marah Ellis Ryan, Francis William Sullivan, Frederic Homer Balch, Frederic Remington, Robert W. Chambers, Forrestine C. Hooker, James B. Hendryx, Frank H. Spearman, J. Allan Dunn, Ann S. Stephens, Robert E. Howard, Clarence E. Mulford, R.M. Ballantyne, Charles Siringo, Isabel E. Ostrander, Frederic Logan Paxson1012h 24m$1 · $0.00
The Last American FrontierFrederic Logan Paxson10h 19m$25
The Stories of Canada's FrontierJulian Ralph7h 24m$1 · $0.00
Incidents in a Gipsy's LifeGeorge Smith49m$1 · $0.00