Absolute Maui Hardcover - 2015

From the jacket flap

Those who live on Maui and those who visit share a common bond: they wouldn't want to be anywhere else. Some love the beaches, some the mountains, some the ocean, some the weather. Others cherish the unique island lifestyle: friendly, fun-loving, big-hearted, active, and healthful. And all appreciate the island's diversity. Whether it's the geography, the flora, the fauna, the climate, or the people, Maui is robust and absolutely diverse. The numerous qualities that make Maui unique and universally beloved are captured by the striking images in Absolute Maui. There is a Maui only the sun, the stars and the birds could see until recentlyan aerial perspective of rugged cliffs, surf-fringed reefs, hidden waterfalls, and eroded mountain tops. There is a Maui from a walker's perspective, showing misty ocean covers, palm-shaded beaches, dramatic overlooks, smoldering sunsets, and storybook skies vivid with rainbows. There is a nature lover's Maui, depicted in images of tiny insects, birds and mountain plants, a dazzling array of trees and tropical flowers, as well as seals, great whales, and sea creatures that live hundreds of fathoms deep. (Some of the photos are as rare as their subjects.) The Maui most familiar to its longtime residents is depicted in photos of famous local eateries, festive fairs and parades, cowboys, dancers, and music-makers; as well as in soulful portraits of islanders of Hawaiian ancestry imbuing their practices with the solemnity befitting an ancient lineage. Absolute Maui is inspired by the award-winning Maui On My Mind and by Robert Wenkam's Maui, The Last Hawaiian Place, both now considered timeless classics. But Maui isn't really timeless. The island is always changing. The Maui that Wenkam chronicled in 1970 was not the same island that Maui On My Mind explored 15 years later, although both faithfully represented their eras.