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From the days of druids and Saint Patrick in the fifth century to a fascinating look at modern Ireland, the full history of the Emerald Isle comes alive in this beautifully illustrated, fact-filled volume. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Concise History of Irland
This is a small book with small print that gives an overview of Irish History from about 400AD to mid 1920's. With the equally small and concise book:"The Celtic World," these may be the only Irish History you need.

An excellent, concise little history
A Little History of Ireland is a small, charming book which contains a few pages on each major event in Irish history and accompanying illustrations.There are fourteen subsections dealing with specific events, such as "The Flight of the Earls", "The Battle of the Boyne", and "The Easter Rising".The book begins with the arrival of Saint Patrick (believed 423 AD) and ends with the end of republican resistance to the treaty forming the Irish Free State in 1923, and in between it contains a surprising amount of concisely stated information.It is quite well writen and a wonderful way to familiarise oneself with Irish history without pouring through massive volumes. 59pp. ... Read more

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The second edition of Unraveling the ''Model Minority'' Stereotype: Listening to Asian American Youth extends Stacey Lee's groundbreaking research on the educational experiences and achievement of Asian American youth. Lee provides a comprehensive update of social science research to reveal the ways in which the larger structures of race and class play out in the lives of Asian American high school students, especially regarding presumptions that the educational experiences of Koreans, Chinese, and Hmong youth are all largely the same. In her detailed and probing ethnography, Lee presents the experiences of these students in their own words, providing an authentic insider perspective on identity and inter ethnic relations in an often misunderstood American community. This second edition is essential reading for anyone interested in Asian American youth and their experiences in U.S. schools.

''Stacey Lee is one of the most powerful and influential scholarly voices to challenge the 'model minority' stereotype. Here in its second edition, Lee's book offers an additional paradigm to explain the barriers to educating young Asian Americans in the 21st century -- xenoracism (i.e., racial discrimination against immigrant minorities) intersecting with issues of social class.'' -- Xue Lan Rong, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

''Breaking important new theoretical and empirical ground, this revised edition is a must read for anyone interested in Asian American youth, race/ethnicity, and processes of transnational migration in the 21st century.'' -- Lois Weis, State University of New York Distinguished Professor

''Clear, accessible, and significantly updated.... The book's core lesson is as relevant today as it was when the first edition was published, presenting an urgent call to dismantle the dangerous stereotypes that continue to structure inequality in 21st century America.'' -- Teresa L. McCarty, Alice Wiley Snell Professor of Education Policy Studies, Arizona State University

''Sure to stimulate further research in this area and will be of interest to teachers, teacher educators, researchers, and students alike.'' -- Teachers College Record

''A must read for those interested in a different approach in understanding our racial experience beyond the stale and repetitious polemics that so often dominate the public debate.'' -- The Journal of Asian Studies

''Well written and jargon-free, this book...documents genuinely candid views from Asian-American students, often laden with their own prejudices and ethnocentrism.'' -- MultiCultural Review ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Finally a book that addresses Asian-American isssues.
"Unraveling" is a book that is easy to understand and read for both students and the general public who have been interested or have been party to what is going on with Asian-American issues in today's society. This book brings these issues to light from a series of actual interviews held in high schools. Stacey Lee hits the target and I hope she continues her writing. I look forward to more from this new writer who obviously has talent. ... Read more

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Highly respected scholar Robert Teranishi draws on his vast research to present this timely and compelling examination of the experience of Asian Americans in higher education. Asians in the Ivory Tower explores why and how Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) are important to our nation's higher education priorities and places the study of AAPI college participation within a broad set of conditions through which all students must navigate as they pursue higher education. Teranishi captures the intersections of individual agency, social conditions, and organizational structures as synergetic forces that result in a range of postsecondary outcomes for subpopulations within the larger body of AAPIs. Transcending narrow generalizations about this understudied population, this seminal book debunks false stereotypes about AAPI students and their educational trajectories; offers a unique empirical perspective on racial stratification in higher education through case studies that mix quantitative data with narratives of lived stories; examines the educational experiences and routes to college for AAPIs, and examines broader issues around racial inequality and debates about affirmative action; captures the nuances and complexity of race, offering theoretical perspectives that can be applied to other populations. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (10)

Good book if you're Asian-American growing up / grown up in the US.

The book consists of many Asian-American youths' growing up stories in the US.

You see? being a minority always has its own challenges.

It's not the US being a racist society but it's more about minority being pressured by majority.

I especially liked the story of the girl from New York titled "Becoming Chinese Again". She's growing up in New York ChinaTown, from a low social background; she had holidays in China for a few months and she said it was the best time of her life where she did not have to pretend to be someone else to be liked by people, she could have all she wanted, etc and when she's back in the US, she said it's hard to make the English words coming out from her mouth and that she became the 6 year old she was when she moved to the US (with her family): all the innocent Chinese girl new to the country, happy and all.

I almost cried when I read that story about her. I keep asking myself: "Is there something wrong with being Chinese?" there is nothing wrong with being Chinese but remember, when you're in a country whose majority of people are not your people, these things happen all the time. When she's in China, she didn't experience these things because there, she's a majority. Her own country of heritage, looks the same as anybody else, her own language, her own cultures. People moved out of China because life in China was hard financially and politically but now Chine is getting better every single day. China is a better country in some ways for people of Chinese background living especially in countries dominated by those of European backgrounds. Each country has its pros and cons. You can't be in the US without experiencing those things because they know you're different to them.

Asian American X
I ordered this book from Amazon months ago as a non-Asian who had questions about the experience of Asians in the US, and I have purchased other books on this topic, as well. While this book has some value, I find it is probably the least useful book for both Asians and non-Asians; the former because it's, for the most part, nothing each and every Asian American reading couldn't have written him or herself. A book that is along the same lines as this one but with more depth in terms of stories, experiences and backgrounds is "Balancing Two Worlds: Asian American College Students Tell Their Life Stories." I agree with the review by Charles Chea, basically--the lack of diversity in contributers hurts the book, as well. Too many stories sound the same. A lot of the writers are part-white/part-Asian; where are the part-black/part-Asian or part-Latino/part-Asian writers? What about more LGBT Asians and South/Southeast Asians? Asians who did not attend college? There are a lot of voices, and, thus, a lot of variety in experiences missing here.

For non-Asians, particularly blacks and Latinos, we cannot help but notice how certain groups of people no longer exist. Many Asians and Latinos complain that they are left out of black/white binary discussions of race, but whenever I read stories by Asians (not just in this book) they do the same thing. "American" is defined as "white" and vice versa, and that's who Asians are concerned with in terms of acceptance and fitting in, the way many stories in this book and otherwise tell it. Yet, one of the more upsetting things to Asian Americans is not being considered/feeling American themselves. Too many stories repeated this theme of American-ness as whiteness and wanting to be American/like whites, though I'm sure this is very central to the Asian American experience...which is one of the reasons why I'm certain any Asian American could have written most of the stories in this book. At the same time, unlike a similar book about Latino college students entitled "Mi Voz, Mi Vida," in which many of the stories include the authors fessing up to racist ideas towards blacks and darkness in general among Latinos, and one contributer discusses her interracial relationship with an Asian, we get next to no sense of what Asians think of/interactions with blacks and Latinos (though we do get a sense of colorism among Asians). I think the focus on whites, in itself, reveals a lot about Asian Americans to a non-Asian reader, though.

A few stories do stand out for originality, particularly an essay by a woman who liked to sing but felt that being Asian would hold her back if she pursued singing as a career and another essay about struggling with weight/body image issues as an Asian. There is (I think only) one story about struggling with sexuality, which also is more original and interesting than many other stories in the book. Aside from that, this book is probably most helpful to Asian Americans who are always in predominantly white environments or otherwise have very little contact with Asian Americans and just want to know other Asian Americans out there go through what they go through. It doesn't delve deeply into the Asian American experience or psyche on various issues/backgrounds, and it does next to nothing to convince someone who believes otherwise that Asian Americans experience racism or other forms of alienation or hardship to a significant degree in the US. As I mentioned before, "Balancing Two Worlds...," while still not necessarily showing the full picture of racial difficulty Asian Americans experience, does present more diversity despite the fact that its contributors attended an Ivy League school and demonstrates more complexity (again, not necessarily racially, but in life experiences).

misrepresentation
The quality and thought put into each essay was excellent, though it could've been more diverse class and wealth wise.

While there is an obvious effort by the editors to include South/Southeast/East Asians and Pacific Islanders in order to represent diversely, there seems to have been a lackluster effort to include young APIA voices who are of college-age, but not in college. This would've broaden perspectives, assuming that most of them come from less educated and poorer backgrounds, exposing ideas, thoughts, and desires less uniform.

This a collection of APIA voices in college - hopefully, the editors will make better efforts to broaden the collection if they decide to create a second book.

and I thought I was alone...
I found this book immensly moving.It's not really because the quality of the writing is all that good.There aren't any deep or poignant metaphors, just real life.I think that's more important than anything.What I liked most about this collection of voices is that I found I related to exactly what people said.I wanted to read more about their lives just to learn more about mine. I recommend it to anyone, Asian or not.

Great read
This book provides insightful commentary on what life is like for young Asian Americans growing up in the United States. The collaborative treatment of the subject, driven by a group of talented writers, showcases a large spectrum of inspired voices. An enjoyable read. ... Read more

Product Description
This book challenges the "model minority" stereotype of Asian American students as a critical step toward educating all children well. Focusing on Korean American youth in New York City schools, Jamie Lew compares high-achieving students attending an elite magnet high school with students who have dropped out of a neighborhood high school. She finds that class, race, social networks, parental strategies, and schooling resources all affect the aspirations and academic achievement of Asian American youth. This in-depth examination:

* Debunks the simplistic "culture of poverty" argument that is often used to explain the success of Asian Americans and the failure of other minorities.
* Illustrates how Asian Americans, in different social and economic contexts, negotiate ties to their families and ethnic communities, construct ethnic and racial identities, and gain access to good schooling and institutional support.
* Offers specific recommendations on how to involve first-generation immigrant parents and ethnic community members in schools to foster academic success.
* Looks at implications for developing educational policies that more fully address the needs of second-generation children. ... Read more

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"Those who find themselves living in the Americas, no matter what their ethnic, educational, or economic background, must ultimately 'become their own personalities,' melding their point of view with their points of origin and their places of settlement. For immigrant or refugee families and their children, this 'process of becoming' often means struggling with the contradictions of race, generation, economics, class, work, religion, gender, and sexuality within the family, workplace, or school. . . . Perhaps nowhere is the struggle more raw, poignant, and moving than in the words of the younger generation at the cusp of such becoming. We readers can also find insights within the candid accounts of their personal lives and in the experiences of their family and friends."--from Balancing Two Worlds

Balancing Two Worlds highlights themes surrounding the creation of Asian American identity. This book contains fourteen first-person narratives by Asian American college students, most of whom have graduated during the first five years of the twenty-first century. Their engaging accounts detail the students' very personal struggles with issues of assimilation, gender, religion, sexuality, family conflicts, educational stereotypes, and being labeled the "model minority." Some of the students relate stories drawn from their childhood and adolescent experiences, while others focus more on their college experiences at Dartmouth.

Anyone who wants to learn about the changing concept of race in America and what it's like to be a young American of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Burmese, or South Asian descent--from educators and college administrators to students and their families--will find Balancing Two Worlds a compelling read and a valuable resource. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Great book for first generation immigrants too.
As a first generation immigrant raising teenager children, I found this book very helpful. It shared real stories of growing struggle from different cultures. It helps me to have a better insight into the struggles my children might face when they get to college level. I will certainly have him/her read this book when he/she is ready.

Recording history with foresight
Editors did a superb job in collecting and publishing essays from Asian American college students to write about a difficult topic, themselves as they see which is difficult in spite of pervasive racism that seems to define who they can become in a world where these youngsters grow up with very little depictions of happy Asian couples/families on TV for instance which necessitate them to see white couples/families they routinely see in abstract to find reference/application/relevance points risking mockery on their separate heritage, coming out with bitter knowledge that understanding is greater than being understood. ... Read more

Product Description
In this previously untold story of African American self-education, Heather Andrea Williams moves across time to examine African Americans' relationship to literacy during slavery, during the Civil War, and in the first decades of freedom. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Encouraging
Finally a book that acknowledges the grass efforts of the nameless folks who took up the grass roots call of "Each one, teach one" effort in the difficult post-Civil War era.As limiting as it was, there was nothing else in place to address the manmouth job of getting generations of now free African American literate.Interesting, provacative read.

Excellent descriptive work of African American education, but not powerfully interpretive
This research is a much needed contemporary history of the education of African Americans in the South from slavery through reconstruction and the beginnings of the common (public) school. It addresses the question from the local, 'grassroots' perspective--Williams explores how blacks sacrificed to build schools, pay for teachers, advocate for their own education, and how these individuals striving for freedom inspired a movement for education across the South. Poor whites, seeing blacks entering schools, were driven to anger, jealousy, violence, and imitation. Some whites enrolled in freedpeoples schools, as they believed them superior to the poor white schools in the neighborhood (if there were any).

Williams' work could definitely use an update and a broadening of perspective. Her research is education-centric--she does not consider broader social forces at play in her analysis, or if she does, she brings them up for a paragraph before moving on.In other words, she does not string her analysis along broader themes of race/ism, freedom, democracy, etc, all at play during this period. Education was in fact the very foundation of new conceptions of democracy: it was foundational to the ideology of freedom, and it was not coincidental that freedpeople associated education with a way up in the world. They were in some ways appropriating a republican ideology of free labor that valued education as foundational.

By not considering the broader context--the North, the new forces of industrialization and the changing meaning of labor, contestations of freedom, and so on, Williams' point is less forceful, less connected. However, as descriptive work, and as *the* contemporary (21st century) work on the subject, this is definitely must-reading.

A crucially important book
Books on education in the Reconstruction period are relatively rare; some of the more important ones--Northern Schools, Southern Blacks, and Reconstruction: Freedmen's Education, 1862-1875 (Contributions in American History) by Ronald Butchart and Soldiers of Light and Love: Northern Teachers and Georgia Blacks, 1865-1873 by Jacqueline Jones--are themselves getting old by now. Even another, updated book in the vein of Butchart's or Jones's would've been valuable, but Williams's book is different in both scope and focus, and it makes a vital contribution to educational history and the history of race relations.

For one thing, Williams's book focuses on black education broadly, not just on the school and not just in the Reconstruction period. Williams's book includes not only information on the freedpeople's schools that are the subject of other studies in post-Civil War education for African Americans but also on the "underground" learning taking place in the slave quarters and elsewhere prior to emancipation. Williams is also interested in more than the "Yankee schoolmarm," who has been frequently studied (though, admittedly, not that often in recent decades). Instead, taking the lead of such scholars as James Anderson (The Education of Blacks in the South, 1860-1935), Williams focuses on black initiative in founding, running, and maintaining schools despite white indifference and hostility. While the northern missionary teacher is--rightly--a part of this story, so too are the "native" black teachers who taught other African Americans, formally and informally. While other books and articles have attested to ex-slaves' desire for learning, Williams's book goes to great lengths to illustrate it through a rich array of primary sources and extended examples. Where Self-Taught truly shines is in its highly detailed exploration of the intricacies of starting, staffing, and maintaining schools for African Americans in the immediate postwar period; equally impressive are her efforts to discuss the role of black teachers, both those from the North and those native to the South.

Williams is less successful, however, in contextualizing her study, both historically and historiographically, and the two aspects of the problem are closely related. Williams objects to Butchart's earlier study on the grounds that Butchart seems to her to be suggesting that northern whites imposed education on southern blacks. This is, in fact, a misreading of Butchart's main point. He argues not that southern African Americans had education imposed on them per se (he's quite willing to acknowledge that they themselves wanted education) but that schooling was, in essence, a weak lever for creating social justice, where land reform would've been a more powerful tool. Williams's misreading here points to the larger historical problem of her work: black education is treated mostly in a vacuum. While she does an admirable job of conveying the variety of white northern and southern attitudes to black education, Williams doesn't really explore the issue of what value, ultimately, education had for African Americans in the South. Clearly, it had personal importance, and there were clearly cases where education helped individuals, but Williams's book doesn't really grapple with the thorny question of whether education aided freedpeople economically and politically. Indeed, as the book ends and Reconstruction efforts wane, we get the distinct (and, I think, correct) impression that increasing levels of literacy and education generally weren't able to forestall generations of discriminatory laws and practices. In short, Williams treats education unproblematically, as if it were, ipso facto, as important as its seekers made it out to be, as if (were it attained) it would achieve the full panoply of goals African Americans (and many whites) believed it would, including civil, political, and perhaps even social equaliy between the races.

In general, Williams spends relatively little time explaining the nature of Reconstruction itself; this is a legitimate enough approach, but potential readers should be aware that terms such as "presidential Reconstruction" and "Redeemers" are going to be used without much gloss.

Ultimately, Self-Taught is a great contribution to historical literature and truly covers new ground (as well as old ground in an invigorating way). I would highly recommend this book, even as I would suggest that some of its premises be interrogated.

profound piece of scholarship
African American efforts to become literate during slavery is frequently associated with the experience of bondage in the U.S. The story of Frederick Douglass is emblematic of the enslaved person's attempt to assert, through literacy,his or her humanity. The written word represented to those trapped in the blight of slavery a means to free the mind. As Heather Williams so brilliantly documents in this seminal work, Self Taught: African American Education in Slavery and Freedom, the black quest for literacy did not ebb with the abolishment of slavery. African American hunger for education in the wake of slavery, according to the author, was insatiable. Formerly enslaved men, women and children flocked to the standard of education with an enthusiam and determination that often invoked negative reactions from surrounding white populations. Reactions from Northern whites, who journeyed South to teach blacks, tended toward admiration.

The one theme threading its way through this book is agency. Agency is what African Americans demonstrated as they acted on their own initiative to steal the education denied them by slave owners. It was that same agency that blacks drew upon to create their own educational opportunities in the era of Reconstruction. Williams relays numerous accounts of blacks, partially to fully literate, teaching other blacks, building schools and trying to obtain resources such as books and writing material to keep the schools functional. Freed people did more than seek education. They sought to operate as active partners with Northerners in their own educatiional development. They refused to be sidelined or patronized. In several instances African American educational self reliance reaped rich dividends in the form of lasting institutions. The black soldiers of the 62nd and 65th United States Colored Infantry, for example, made financial contributions that established Lincoln University.

Williams highlights white Southern resentment of blacks' educational aspirations. Such resentment was accompanied by jealousy. Southern whites' fear of dominance by educated blacks generated violence.At the same time black eagarness for education, sparked a desire on the part of Southern whites for public schools. Public school systems, widespread in the North prior to the Civil War, were practically nonexistent in the south of the same period. That blacks contributed to the rise of public education in the south does not figure prominently, if at all in the landscape of American history. That a small minority of whites risked ridicule to attend black schools established by Northerners, due to the superior academic performance of black students, may not be widely known by scholars or laypersons.

The author reveals much in Self Taught that has remained hidden in the shadows of history. Drawing from a wealth of sources, Williams shatters the spurious idea that blacks, freshly emerged from slavery, were too helpless or too ignorant to embark upon a direction of individual and collective uplift in the form of literacy and education. Nor, as the author conveys, were they so cowed by subservience as to prevent them from making their voices heard, and their demands felt in the cause of advancement. Self Taught is an extremely interesting read. No full length study that I am aware of has focused exclusively on black education in the immediate years following the Civil War. Heather Williams has written a classic, one that should be required reading for college courses dealing with the Civil War and Reconstruction periods. ... Read more

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Introduce Your Students to a Rich Literary Heritage

Glencoe's new collection of ethnic anthologies gives students access to a wealth of literature written by some of the best classic authors and the finest contemporary voices. Each anthology, organized thematically into five relevant themes, combines literature and art as powerful expressions of the group's cultural story. Asian American Literature features the work of noted authors from Amy Tan to Maxine Hong Kingston and many more! ... Read more

Product Description

This Handbook received an honorable mention at the 2009 PROSE Awards. The PROSE Awards annually recognize the very best in professional and scholarly publishing by bringing attention to distinguished books, journals, and electronic content in over 40 categories.

“This volume fills the tremendous void that currently exists in providing a much-needed lens for cultural leadership and proficiency. The approach provides a wide divergence of perspectives on African American forms of leadership in a variety of diverse leadership settings.”
-Len Foster, Washington State University

The SAGE Handbook of African American Education is a unique, comprehensive collection of theoretical and empirical scholarship in six important areas: historical perspectives, teaching and learning, PK–12 school leadership, higher education, current issues, and education policy. The purpose of the Handbook is to articulate perspectives on issues affecting the participation and leadership of African Americans in PK–12 and postsecondary education. This volume also addresses historical and current issues affecting the education of African Americans and discusses current and future school reform efforts that directly affect this group.

Key Features

• Promotes inquiry and development of questions, ideas, and dialogue about critical practice, theory, and research on African Americans in the United States educational system
• Makes significant contributions to the scholarship on African Americans in the broad context of U.S. education and society
• Addresses the central question-in what ways do African Americans in corporate, private, and public positions influence and shape educational policy that affects African Americans?

"The SAGE Handbook of African American Education is a unique, comprehensive collection of theoretical and empirical scholarship in six important areas: historical perspectives, teaching and learning, Pre-K-12 school leadership, higher education, current issues, and education policy."
-TEACHERS OF COLOR

“A wise scientist once argued that to doubt everything or to believe everything often results in the same solution set; both eliminate the need for reflection. This handbook provides an intellectual space for those interested in true reflection on the human ecology of the African American experience in schools, communities, and society. The /Handbook of African American Education/ is a repository of information developed to advance the human service professional.”
-William F. Tate IV, Washington University in St. Louis

"This handbook represents the most comprehensive collection of research on African Americans in education to date. Its breadth spans the historical, the political, institutional and community forces that have shaped educational opportunities and attainment among African Americans. The review of extant research on a range of topics from the role of culture and identity in learning, teacher preparation, educational leadership, to higher education and educational policy is far-reaching and cutting edge. This volume has historic significance and will become a classic collection on African American education for scholars and practitioners alike."
-Carol D. Lee, Professor, Northwestern University
Vice-President, Division G, American Educational Research Association

“This handbook is needed as a basic reference for professors and graduate students conducting research on the education of Blacks in America.”
-Frank Brown, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Product Description
A volume in Research on African American EducationSeries Editors: Carol Camp Yeakey, Washington University in St. Louisand Ronald D. Henderson, National Education AssociationThe book aims to develop a clearer understanding of the influence of social dynamics onthe educational opportunities of high school students of color in the urban setting of California's Los Angeles area. Specifically, weexamine how students' backgrounds, high school experiences and own agency shape their college preparation processes andpostsecondary aspirations. While some research has been done on high school students' college-choice process, this book is unique inits broad and comparative approach. It examines the experiences of students across 10 schools, identifying broad themes that areillustrated through specific case studies. This approach allows readers to understand the broader issues that face students fromunderserved backgrounds as they pursue college, while illuminating how these issues uniquely manifest themselves in individualschool contexts. ... Read more