The life of pioneering Hawai'i nisei (second-generation Japanese-American) lawyer, judge and community leader Masaji Marumoto has been chronicled in a new book, "First Among Nisei: The Life and Writings of Masaji Marumoto."

Written by Dennis M. Ogawa, assisted by Claire Marumoto and published by the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai'i, the book tells Marumoto's life story, which encompassed many key events of 20th-century Hawai'i history, ranging from the Massie case (for which he assisted the local attorney on Clarence Darrow's defense team) to the nisei soldiers' story during World War II and the breaking down of discriminatory barriers for non-Caucasians after the war.

Born in 1906 and raised in Kona and Honolulu, Marumoto graduated from McKinley High School in 1924, and with financial help from the local community, went on to graduate from the University of Chicago and Harvard Law School. He became a pioneering lawyer in Hawai'i and, among other prominent roles, was a first lieutenant sent to Okinawa in the last months of World War II and to Korea immediately after. He was also a territorial, and later state, Supreme Court justice.

The book grew out of an oral history conducted with Marumoto in the 1970s as well as other sources, and was initiated after Marumoto died in 1995 at the age of 89.

The title of the book comes from the fact that Marumoto was the first nisei to accomplish many different things in Hawai'i, Ogawa said in a statement.

"First Among Nisei: The Life and Writings of Masaji Marumoto" is part of a series edited by Ogawa through the University of Hawai'i Press series, titled "Extraordinary Lives: The Experience of Hawai'i Nisei." Ogawa is a professor of American studies at UH-Manoa and is also a member of the cultural center board of governors.

Cost of the book is $20 for cultural center members and $25 for nonmembers. For more information, call the center at 945-7633, visit www.jcch.com or write to info@jcch.com.