Yesterday's Los Angeles Times featured an article about the mixed emotions regarding Hawaii's fiftieth anniversary of statehood. Many of the observances will be low-key, Jay Jones, reports, and are being called "commemorations" rather than "celebrations." This, of course, is because of the United States's complicated post-colonial relationship with Hawai'i. Duke authors Noenoe Silva and J. Kēhaulani Kauanui write about this in their books Aloha Betrayed and Hawaiian Blood. Silva explores long-forgotten forms of resistance to the U.S. takeover of Hawaii in 1897. Kauanui examines the far-reaching legal and cultural effects of the 1921 Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, which defined native Hawaiians based on blood quantum. Readers interested in Hawaiian culture should also check out anthropologist Ty P. Tengan's book Native Men Remade, a contemporary look at how native Hawaiians are retaining and changing their culture.