Born on a Kona coffee plantation in 1914, Koji Ariyoshi saw the importance of unions and strikes after witnessing labor clashes as a boy. In the 1930s he worked as a stevedore and wrote a series of articles about life on the docks for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. After World War II broke out, Ariyoshi used his language skills in the U.S. Army and was assigned to China, where he met several of China's future leaders, including Mao Zedong.
After returning to Hawaii, Ariyoshi became the editor of the Honolulu Record, the voice of labor during the turbulent postwar conflicts between unions and Hawaii's ruling elites. Following his 1951 arrest on charges of being a Communist, Ariyoshi spent the next years writing "My Thoughts for which I Stand Indicted" for the Record. The present volume draws from this series of weekly articles to create an energetic and thoughtful work chronicling a life lived at the center of events that transformed Hawaii, America, China and the world.
