Aloha Rodeo: Three Hawaiian Cowboys, the World's Greatest Rodeo, and a Hidden History of the American West

2020 Oregon Book Award Winner for General Nonfiction

The triumphant true story of the native Hawaiian cowboys who shocked America at the 1908 world rodeo championships

A Pacific Northwest Book Award finalist * An NPR Best Book of the Year * An Oregon Book Award Finalist

"Groundbreaking. ... A must-read. ... An essential addition." True West

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.

"This inspiring and impeccably crafted story of against-all-odds triumph is one that movie-makers surely will yearn to produce.... I loved this book, truly." SIMON WINCHESTER, author of Pacific, The Men Who United the States, and The Professor and the Madman

"David Wolman and Julian Smith's masterful Aloha Rodeo is like uncovering a beautiful fresco you never knew was there, each turned page revealing another vivid and colorful piece of a true American West story that had lain long buried until now." SALLY JENKINS, award-winning Washington Post sports columnist and author of The Real All-Americans

"Engaging, thorough prose. ... The narratives are so wild that they often read like fiction. ... If your perception of cowboy culture has largely been shaped by Louis L'Amour, Lonesome Dove and John Wayne, hold onto your hats. Aloha Rodeo blows open a canyon of inclusionary cowboy history as wide as the Rio Grande." BookPage (Starred Review)

“Thrilling. ... Gripping. ... Aloha Rodeo shines.” NPR.org

David Wolman is a contributing editor at Wired. He has written for The New Yorker, Outside, Nature, and the New York Times. His work has twice been anthologized in the Best American Science and Nature Writing series, and his feature about Egypt’s revolution was a finalist for a National Magazine Award. His books include The End of Money, Righting the Mother Tongue, and A Left-Hand Turn Around the World. He lives in Portland, Oregon.

Julian Smith writes about science, adventure, and history for Smithsonian, Wired, Outside, Men’s Journal, National Geographic Traveler, the Washington Post, and other publications. He is the author of Crossing the Heart of Africa, which won the Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Award and a Banff Mountain Book Award, and the coauthor of Smokejumper. He lives in Portland, Oregon.