Product Description
This volume is produced from digital images created through the University of Michigan University Library's large-scale digitization efforts. The Library seeks to preserve the intellectual content of items in a manner that facilitates and promotes a variety of uses. The digital reformatting process results in an electronic version of the original text that can be both accessed online and used to create new print copies. The Library also understands and values the usefulness of print and makes reprints available to the public whenever possible. This book and hundreds of thousands of others can be found in the HathiTrust, an archive of the digitized collections of many great research libraries. For access to the University of Michigan Library's digital collections, please see http://www.lib.umich.edu and for information about the HathiTrust, please visit http://www.hathitrust.org ... Read more

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Book Two comprises volumes 5-8. As "Junior Tuesday" primaries approach, what sort of deal is Senator Yamaoka cooking up? And how did a scarred young Japanese-American war veteran come to marry the blondest hair and bluest blood in New England? ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Texans, Gun Control & a Japanese take on them
Having been born and raised in the Texas that Kawaguchi attempts to capture in his portrayal (done fairly well, IMHO, if a bit stereotyped), I think I can safely say that if Yamaoka really had walked into a Texas bar and given that pitch on gun control, he never would have walked back out again.Well, he would have, but only on a stretcher.Other than that, it's good book, and that ends on a cliffhanger, no less.

Intriguing
The mangaka (manga creator) of Eagle is Kaiji Kawaguchi, who is famous for his manga The Silent Service, which English language critics have called "reminiscent of Tom Clancy", because it utilized the rogue submarine premise of The Hunt for Red October.Eagle is a both a commentary on politics in modern America and a somewhat soap-operatic story of relationships.At the beginning of the story, reporter Takashi Jo is called to his boyhood home on Okinawa, a small island in the Japanese archipelago, to identify the body of his mother.While he is going through his mother's apartment, he notices that the picture of his father, an American soldier who he never knew, is missing from its customary place.Shortly after this, he learns that he has been assigned to go to America to cover the campaign of Kenneth Yamaoka, a Democratic senator from New York who has recently announced that he will campaign for the Democratic nomination for president.The reason for his selection is baffling to Takashi, and to his colleagues and superiors - he has never covered politics or international affairs, and he admits to himself that his articles were merely filler for the local editions of the paper he works for, the Maicho Shimbun.

Takashi learns, not long after arriving in America, that the reason for his selection was personal, not because of his professional qualifications.As a reporter, he has to struggle to maintain his objectivity in the face of ambivalent feelings about Senator Yamaoka, animosity from the Senator's wife Patricia, his love for the Senator's adopted daughter and press secretary, Rachel, and the shifting political currents around the charismatic senator.The first four volumes of Eagle (about 100 pages each) have been released both individually and as part of an omnibus edition which combines the four volumes into one paperback.Kawaguchi traces the senator's personal history, telling the story of his transformation from enlisted soldier to influential lawyer to politician, and reveals enough of the behind the scenes story and the public events - fundraisers, debates, and primaries - of Yamaoka's campaign to make the reader want to know more.

Kawaguchi's drawings are more realistic than those of most of the manga which have been translated and released in America; they couldn't be called superdeformed or kawaii (cute) by any stretch of the imagination.The artistic style goes well with the story and mood of this manga.I'm definitely hooked, and I can't wait to read the four forthcoming volumes of this series, to see what happens next.

This is starting to get interesting. . .
If you've read my review on the first volume of the "Eagle" saga, you know that I wasn't particularly impressed with it.Well, I have to say that this volume had me truly enthraled.Particularly the"debate" between Yamaguchi (? sorry I can't quite keep his namestraight) and Albert "Noah."The whole buisiness of 'is itbetter to train the sheep or the sheepherders?' really had my attention.Ifound my self arguing with both men.I'm still not absolutely certain thatthis book is a keeper, but the fact that I was internally debating thecharacters is a good sign (for me, anyway) that this novel is goingsomewhere.So far, this has been the best novel in the series.I'mlooking forward to reading more.I won't make any other comment than that- I have to read more of it before I can say yea or nay to it.

An interesting concept.
With the presidential election right around the corner, Kaiji Kawaguchi's political manga makes it's timely arrival.The plot revolves around a young Japanese reporter and the Asian-American presidential candidate thatit is his job to cover.While the art was very good, and the idea behindit was intriguing, I'm afraid I wasn't terribly immpressed withKawaguchi-san's work.Perhaps it is a doubt as to whether a Nihon-jin canreally understand the American political system,perhaps it is just thathe hits too close to home.The story has potential, I'll say that much.Iwon't give up on it yet. ... Read more

Product Description

This collection, designed to be the primary anthology or textbook for courses in Asian American history, covers the subject's entire chronological span. The volume presents a carefully selected group of readings that requires students to evaluate primary sources, test the interpretations of distinguished historians, and draw their own conclusions.

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Customer Reviews (3)

Beautiful unparalleled book of the period
This is a beautiful book with text and photographs of the period art that cannot be found elsewhere. These Asian American artists of this first generation of immigrants lived through some problematic treatment and times and their work is relatively unknown by the public.The paperback version is a substantial book about 2 inches thick and it is wonderful that this is available at a reasonable cost that allows more people to own and experience it.This is also a lovely gift.

about time
It's about time we had a volume devoted to Asian American art history.The book is history in the making itself.A wonderful resource and highly recommended.

Asian American Art: a History 1850-1970
The most comprehensive work on this subject, which is a part of American art history but neglectedby academia. In recent years works on this subject start to appear on the market place, but no other book went the distance as this one does. A lot of blank areas of the Asian artists in American is reviewed or mentioned but on the survey end, however, there is no other book like this. A must read book if you are interested in the Asian American history, a must have if you are interested in the Asian artists and their historical positions in America, the book will take you to the beginning of the story and bring one closer to the now. ... Read more

Product Description
Immigrants from South Asian countries are among the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population. This work, designed for students and interested readers, provides the first in-depth examination of recent South Asian immigrant groups--their history and background, current facts, comparative cultures, and contributions to contemporary American life. Groups discussed include Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Sri Lankans, Nepalis, and Afghans. The topics covered include patterns of immigration, adaptation to American life and work, cultural traditions, religious traditions, women's roles, the family, adolescence, and dating and marriage. Controversial questions are examined: Does the American political economy welcome or exploit South Asian immigrants? Are American and South Asian values compatible? Leonard shows how the American social, religious, and cultural landscape looks to these immigrants and the contributions they make to it, and she outlines the experiences and views of the various South Asian groups. Statistics and tables provide information on migration, population, income, and employment. Biographical profiles of noted South Asian Americans, a glossary of terms, and selected maps and photos complete the text. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

great history
South Asian Americans provides a great history of one this country's fastest growing ethnic groups. It looks back through South Asian AMerican history from South Asia to America starting around the early 1900s to the present. It deals with ethnic and religious differences within the group as well as how they have adjusted to Ameirca. It explores how immigration policy has affected the numbers coming to this country. One of the more unique features of the book is that it deals with Indians that came to California in the early 1900s. Generally we think of south asians as being more recent immigrants but this book deals with how the came in early 1900s. These immigrants helped to shape the racial dynamics of California like the Koreans, Japanese and Chinese before them. ... Read more

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An interdisciplinary collection of essays, and historical documents, that introduces readers to the many issues fueling the growth of Asian American Studies ... 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
Sooner or later every Asian-American must deal with the question 'Where do you come from?'. It is probably the most familiar if least aggressive form of racism. It is a tip-off to the persistent notion that people of Asian ancestry are not real Americans, that 'Orientals' never really stop being loyal to a foreign homeland, no matter how long they or their families have been in this country. Confronting the cultural stereotypes that have been attached to Asian-Americans over the last 150 years, Robert G. Lee seizes the label 'Oriental' and asks where it came from. The idea of Asians as mysterious strangers who could not be assimilated into the cultural mainstream was percolating to the surface of American popular culture in the mid-nineteenth century, when Chinese immigrant laborers began to arrive in this country in large numbers. Lee shows how the bewildering array of racialized images first proffered by music hall songsters and social commentators have evolved and become generalized to all Asian-Americans, coalescing in particular stereotypes.Whether represented as Pollutant, Coolie, Deviant, Yellow Peril, Model Minority, or Gook, the Oriental is portrayed as alien and a threat to the American family the nation writ small. Refusing to balance positive against negative stereotypes, Lee connects these stereotypes to particular historical moments, each marked by shifting class relations and cultural crises. Seen as products of history and racial politics, the images that have prevailed in songs, fiction, films, and nonfiction polemics are contradictory and complex. Lee probes into clashing images of Asians as (for instance) seductively exotic or devious despoilers of (white) racial purity, admirably industrious or an insidious threat to native laborers. When Lee dissects the ridiculous, villainous, or pathetic characters that amused or alarmed the American public, he finds nothing generated by the real Asian-American experience; whether they come from Gold Rush camps or Hollywood films or the cover of "Newsweek", these inhuman images are manufactured to play out America's racial myths. Orientals comes to grips with the ways that racial stereotypes come into being and serve the purposes of the dominant culture. Robert G.Lee is Associate Professor of American Civilization, Brown University.Amazon.com Review
As Edward W. Said noted in his groundbreaking study, Orientalism, theAsian is the eternal "other." Asian Americans, whether immigrants ornative born, are subject to a variety of overlapping stereotypes thatlabel them as "not American." What is "American" and what is not isdefined in part by popular culture. In Orientals, Robert G. Leeanalyses a broad range of artifacts of American pop culture--fromsilent films to blockbuster movies, popular magazines to pulp fiction,and stage dramas to 19th-century songs--to reveal the history of thesedefinitions.

Lee identifies six representations of Asian Americans--the pollutant,the coolie worker, the deviant, the yellow peril, the model minority,and the gook--and notes how, when, and why they emerged. As Lee notes,"each of these representations was constructed in a specifichistorical moment, marked by a shift in class relations accompanied bycultural crisis." For example, the image of the subservient "coolie"emerged as an undercutting threat to the developing white workingclass in the 1870s and 1880s, while the image of the Asian as modelminority appeared in the 1950s, '60s, and '70s and was held up toAfrican Americans and Latinos as a "successful case of 'ethnic'assimilation" and a model for nonpolitical upward mobility. Wellillustrated throughout, Lee's impressive study uses the Asian Americanexperience as a window through which to examine what makes a person a"real" American. Orientals is an excellent addition to thescholarly literature. --C.B. Delaney ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Popular Culture and the History of Racism
Robert G. Lee eloquently and effectively illustrates how the construct of race in America operated to perpetuate racist notions towards Asian American immigrants.The history of ascribed racism towards Asian Americans had its roots in the mid 19th Century, and it operated under an American system of placing cultural meaning on the body.Racist notions toward Asian Americans were created chiefly to solidify the American sense of nationality and cohesion that was absent, and needed in order to facilitate American identity. Lee examines how racist ideas were perpetuated and transmitted through popular culture in the "six faces of the Oriental," the pollutant, the coolie, the deviant, the yellow peril, the model minority, and the gook.These caricatures implied that all Asian Americans fell in to one of six categories, and this stereotyping precluded most Asian Americans from functioning as individuals in American society. Systematic "typing" of the Asian Americans in America, Lee argues, functioned to maintain systems that were larger and more socially driven.These complex social practices were not lost on many Asian Americans, however, and many Asian Americans consistently challenged the unfair ideology of a nation that at once promoted individuality while denying the right to that individuality though six invariable types.Lee cleverly illustrates how each of the six types gave meaning to the Asian body by showing how each stereotype functioned at different periods in America's history.America's first encounter with the Asian Americans quickly led to the idea that they were "pollutants" in their religious practices, or were, as Lee calls them, ""Heathen Chinee' on God's Free Soil."The alien body of the Asian American subsequently served as a system of white working class identity in the "coolie."As "deviants," the Asian Americans challenged not only racial but gendered ideas as well, and the forced prostitution of Chinese women prior to arriving to America led them to become a sexualized threat.Apparent as threats to Victorian ideas of domesticity and gentility, sexuality perpetuated the Chinese women' subservience not only to men but women as well.As the "yellow peril" Asian immigrants represented a larger anxiety towards all immigrants. Lothrop Stoddard's 1920 publication, The Rising Tide of Color was a pseudo-scientific rally to abort Asian immigration, claiming that the Asian immigrants were a racial threat to American society and thus their presence was indeed a "peril."The "model minority" during the Cold War functioned through the financial success of the Asian immigrants, establishing them as a veritable consumer market.The "model minority" gave birth to the "gook," which was actually a response to America's eventual de-industrialization after the Cold War.At this point, according to Lee, America continues to racialize Asians as "Orientals," through allusions to the previous six typecastings as well as newer forms of racial categories complexly tied to economics. Orientals:Asian Americans in Popular Culture is at once an excellent social history of Asian immigrants in America as well as a cultural history of American racism, and its questions lead to examining the problems and faults with the latest "oriental" category.

Identity and Association
This text is an interesting overview to the constant redefinition that society has in creating and labeling the term "Asian". I do not believe that the author chose to title the book "Orientals" as aderogatory term, rather as a word that has been misconstrued within westernideology. The title itself brings attention to the constant shift andmisrepresentation of Asians within Westernized culture.

Being AsianAmerican alone is no longer enough it seems within society. Mostindividuals currently label themselves as Filipino-American,Vietnamese-American, Korean-American, Indian-American, etc. The wholenotion of how a large group such as Asians identify themselves nowadays istoo large, and complicated of a subject to discuss in a literary commentarysuch as this one. I do admit that word "Orient" is a term thathas been used to label goods and products; it is a term that misrepresentedwhole nations of people. But one has to remember too that its originsderive from a period and society that considered people of color, andforeign locals as "goods" rather than people or individuals.

In reference to this text, it is an informative text but not one of thebest published. I would suggest Fanon, (Stuart) Hall, Spivak, and Trinh ifone were interested in searching about Diaspora and identity. ... Read more

Product Description
These brief anthologies of ethnic American literature are ideal for ethnic, multicultural and American literature courses. They are designed to introduce undergraduates to the rich but often neglected literary contributions of established and newer ethnic writers to American literature. Each text is organized chronologically by genre and represent a wide range of literature. An introduction provides an historical overview and a celebration of the diversity within each ethnic group. It also addresses the general literary concerns students are likely to encounter in their readings. A seperate thematic table of contents provides the instructor with more flexibility in the classroom. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An impressive gathering of Asian American voices
"Asian American Literature: A Brief Introduction and
Anthology," edited by Shawn Wong, is an impressive
achievement. The book gathers a range of pieces in many genres by more
than 30 authors. The authors represented are a diverse group. There is
a good balance of male and female writers. The authors represent both
United States-born individuals and immigrants. One author, Frank Chin,
is a fifth-generation Chinese American. Other authors trace their
roots to Japan, India, China, Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines,
Indonesia, Malaysia, or Laos. Some represent biracial
backgrounds. Several generations of writers, from Sui Sin Far
(1867-1914) to Monique Thuy-Dung Truong (b. 1968) are
represented.

Several genres of literature are also represented. The
selections in the anthology are grouped into four sections: nonfiction
prose, fiction, poetry, and drama. Each author's contribution is
preceded by an interesting individual introduction which contains
useful bibliographic data; this material is further supplemented by a
bibliography at the end of the book. Editor Wong also includes a
fascinating preface to the whole book. This supplemental material is
full of interesting information, such as the story of Wong's
rediscovery of pioneering Japanese American writer Toshio Mori.

There
are many highlights to this fine anthology: Amy Tan's essay
"Mother Tongue," in which she reflects on "the
different Englishes" she uses; Bienvenido Santos' "Quicker
with Arrows," a story of interracial love during World War II;
Bharati Mukherjee's "The Management of Grief," a story about
the aftermath of an apparent terrorist bombing; Lawson Fusao Inada's
"Legends from Camp," a cycle of poems about the internment
of Japanese Americans in U.S. concentration camps during World War II;
Watako Yamauchi's "The Music Lessons," a play about the
struggles of a Japanese American family during the Depression of the
1930s; and much more.

I did find a small number of typographical
errors or apparent factual mistakes throughout the book; for example,
at one point Frank Chin's novel "Donald Duk" seems to be
mistakenly referred to as "Donald Pink" (I know of no novel
by the latter name). And the concluding bibliography, while useful, is
confusingly presented. But these problems aside, I found "Asian
American Literature" to be an enriching anthology. This is one of
those wonderful books that is excellent both for classroom use and for
individual reading. I believe that this book will move you emotionally
and impress you artistically while at the same time educating you
about Asian American culture.
... Read more

Product Description
This ground-breaking textbook examines Asian American health from a public health perspective. It provides an overview of the social, political, economic, and cultural forces that influence the distribution of disease and illness in Asian American communities. The book explores the diversity within the Asian community with respect to health seeking behavior and knowledge, socioeconomic status, educational level, cultural traditions, and specific health care needs and issues. By examining the contextual factors that impact health, the book seeks to facilitate a meaningful dialogue and identify creative solutions for health disparities faced by racial and ethnic minority communities. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Much-needed Compendium
The new textbook, Asian American Communities and Health: Context, Research, Policy, and Action (Public Health/Vulnerable Populations), fills a significant gap in information about the diversity of the growing number of Americans from across Asia, the Pacific Islands, and Hawaii, and the health challenges they face in the United States. Mainstream America's perception of Asian-Americans as uniformly successful--healthy, wealthy, and wise--obscures real differences between and within ethnic groups.Here in one readable, expert text is the full picture.Excellent resource for faculty and students interested not only in Asian issues, but more broadly concerned about vulnerable populations, public health, and social justice, too.

Excellent resource
This book is the first of its kind to comprehensively review issues related to the health of Asian communities. The book is evidence-based; it summarizes existing data and identifies gaps in our knowledge about this under-studied population. I highly recommend this book to researchers, advocates, and healthcare providers who work with Asian populations

Innovative and Comprehensive!
As the first text book of it's kind, Asian American Communities and Health is a much needed resource, in discussing Asian American communities and their health needs.Particularly interesting is the focus on community advocacy efforts to promote prevention.Very highly recommended.

Excellent Resource
As a public health professional working in minority communities, I am always looking for resources to inform the development of community based programs.I am particularly impressed with this book's contextual analysis and move away from a disease-specific focus.The section on critical factors impacting health is especially useful.I highly recommend this book for public health professionals and students of public health, medicine, and other allied health professions.

Enlightening!
I've been reading this book I had to leave a review. I must say I'm very impressed. It's definitely a first of it's kind. Its filled with thought-provoking, innovative research on the Asian American community. I especially felt the material on language access (CH 11) is reflective of the importance of community advocacy. I'm also pretty particular about orange. ;)

... Read more

Product Description
In this pathbreaking book sociologists Rosalind Chou and Joe Feagin examine, for the first time in depth, racial stereotyping and discrimination daily faced by Asian Americans long viewed by whites as the model minority. Drawing on more than 40 field interviews across the country, they examine the everyday lives of Asian Americans in numerous different national origin groups. Their data contrast sharply with white-honed, especially media, depictions of racially untroubled Asian American success. Many hypocritical whites make sure that Asian Americans know their racially inferior place in U.S. society so that Asian people live lives constantly oppressed and stressed by white racism. The authors explore numerous instances of white-imposed discrimination faced by Asian Americans in a variety of settings, from elementary schools to college settings, to employment, to restaurants and other public accommodations. The responses of Asian Americans to the U.S. racial hierarchy and its rationalizing racist framing are traced with some Asian Americans choosing to conform aggressively to whiteness and others choosing to resist actively the imposition of the U.S. brand of anti-Asian oppression. This book destroys any naïve notion that Asian Americans are universally favored by whites and have an easy time adapting to life in this still racist society. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Very Comprehensive and Informative
The book explores the origins of the model minority concept and how it was developed by white elites during the 1960s as a way to affirm the American ideal that "anyone can make it" in order to respond to the Civil Rights Movement.Using information from Asian Americans that they interviewed, the authors refute the model minority concept by stating it is facile argument since Asian Americans come from many different cultures and national backgrounds and not all these cultures but a high value of education. Further, despite this concept, Feagin and Chou demonstrate that Asian Americans are often victims of hate crimes, are frequently discriminated against in spite of their abilities and do have poverty and unemployment rates higher than white Americans. They further assert that this concept is harmful to Asian Americans and may explain why many Asian American students commit suicide or drop out of school in high rates because of trying to live up to the stereotype. Lastly, they author conclude that this concept is a form of "divide and conquer" where America's racial minorities can fight to be America's favorite minority while white supremacy is safeguarded.

In addition to addressing the model minority myth, the authors assert that most white Americans have historically, and currently, seen Asian Americans as different and inferior. They write that Asian Americans are often excluded from white social groups and are made to feel inferior for maintaining their culture. In response to this, the writers note that many Asian Americans do not protest this discrimination for the fear of white retaliation and for the feeling that if they conform, they will be eventually accepted. Moreover, some Asian Americans have accepted white dominance as a fact of life. Because of these feelings, many Asian Americans abandon their ethnic heritage, marry white spouses, use surgery to look Caucasian and adopt the dominant white ideology, which causes many Asian Americans to develop pro-white sentiments while developing anti-black and Hispanic views.

So the book does not end on a pessimistic note, while noting that Asian Americans have not developed a strong counterframe to the dominant white ideology, the writers explores some of the ways that some of their interviewees have fought back against white supremacy, which can serve as a guide for Asian Americans to develop a racial consciousness and fight white racism.

I highly recommend this book. With the increase of immigration from Asian and Latin American countries, sociologists need to move beyond the white-black binary analysis which has been dominant in the past and show how other racial groups have been affected by the dominant white racial ideology. The use of interviews make this book every easy to read. This is a much needed book in response to the view of most Americans that Asian Americans are honorary white model minorities that prove that anyone can make it in American society.

ENLIGHTENING
This book is the most comprehensive and accurate portrayal of the inherent racism prevalent in our society today. I have experienced a lot of the situations, particularly in school, K through college that this book writes about. A must read for all Asians and people of color because it raises greater awareness and hopefully more preventive measures taken to stop the systematic racism that occurs on a daily basis.Bravo to the authors on such a prolific book!

Great book
Super fast delivery. brand new book as described.Will def. do business w/ again.

right on target
One of my graduate classes required me to look into "Asian Issues", so I bought a few books on amazon and this one really captured my attention. It was easy to read, it gave great examples/real life experiences, I could hardly put it down. It is also a great length if you are a busy person who wants to read a book that just gets to the point. I definitely recommend this book for all people. We should all strive to learn more about the issues people face, especially the often ignored/looked over Asian issues. Hope you enjoy this book as much as I did.

Challenging Self and Society
This book really moved me. I can't help but sound cliche, but up until now I hadn't read anything that really captured my experience as an Asian American. I found myself identifying with the respondents in the book. I think the authors do a great job of being critical of stereotypes and explaining how the racial hierarchy is structured for a group that is considered neither black nor white.

The narratives can be really sad, and sometimes I found them hard to read, but necessary for this kind of work and to really get the untold story of Asian Americans out there. This book also challenged me to self-reflect on my own identity, my own prejudices about other races, my lack of effort to stand up for myself against racism, and how little I know about the history of racial oppression of Asians in the United States. I was also glad to see that Asian Americans from South and Southeast Asia were included because usually only East Asians and Pacific Islanders Americans are covered when talking about Asian Americans. ... Read more

Product Description
"This book argues that the invention of Asian American identities serves as an index to the historical formation of modern America. By tracing constructions of "Asian American" to an interpenetrating dynamic between Asia and America, the author obtains a deeper understanding of key issues in American culture, history, and society."--BOOK JACKET. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Waxing Poetic on the Trans-Pacific Express
I guess I'm behind the times, or perhaps just mentally unevolved but to me there is a real difference between being intelligent and lucid and being intelligent and obscurantist.David Palumbo-Liu is obviously a very cleverman.I think I understood some of what he said, and yes, it was prettyinsightful.BUT it was usually thrown away as a tag on the end of someinvoluted discussion of what anxieties might possibly have been on the mindof some middle-level bureaucrat in the Wilson administration. Or not.

He's got a good handle on the issues, and he sure can deconstruct, butunless you already have a good handle on racial politics, many of the booksinsights will just not be that obvious.

Don't get this book if you wantto learn about the Asian experience in America (Ron Takaki, Roger Danielsand Sucheng Chan are better sources for that).But if you want someintelligent musings on the unbearable lightness of Asian Americansubjectivity then be my guest.

A work exemplary in range, reach, & cultural-political care
This study of "Asian/American" identity (and disjuncture of identity), as a function of historical processes and shifting discursive formations, is founded in a research of prodigious learning, risk-taking,and far-reaching speculation.Readings of films, novels, sociologicalstudies, journalistic tracts and images that expose the inclusion/exclusionof Asian Americans as inside ("introjected" as model minority)and outside ("projected" as alien and foreign) the core Americannational identity are finely and relentlessly situtated within the terrainsof a shifting global economy which calls upon racialization phobias (yellowperil discourse) and assimilation myths (model minority stories)toinclude/exclude Asians to fit US trans/national needs.Brilliantlynuanced, demanding, and politically adjudicated readings of US culturalworks-- like The Bitter Tea of General Yen, Flower Drum Song, NativeSpeaker, Time and New Republic covers, Asiagate-- are enriched andcontextualized by counter-readings of transnationalizing urban spaces fromMonterey Park to Western Addition to expose and complicate the imbricationsof Asia within America: as economy, as phobic excess, as cultural flow, aspolitical ally, as geopolitical/civilizational antagonist.To my mind,this is one of the most important studies I know of the Pacific Ocean spaceand Asia Pacific imaginary as a racialized "frontier," liminalzone of innovation, and trans/national destiny that deeply implicates theUS in patterns of exclusion and inclusion and war and peace demanding ourfully historicized attention.David Palumbo-Liu's work offers tools ofcultural studies and political-economic care that are exemplary in theirrange, reach, and general decency in responding to the duplexAsian/American culture.While the categories of time, space, psyche, andbody are huge and meandering, the field of American Studies as such iscomplicated and enriched in its "field imaginary" by this valued,nuanced, probing, and fully situated contribution. The "seam" ofAsian and American, as bind and divide, is offered a cultural poeticsworthy of the racial problematic and the complicated history of USmodernity. ... Read more

Product Description
With different histories, cultures, languages, and identities, most Americans of Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Korean, and Vietnamese origin are lumped together and viewed by other Americans simply as Asian Americans. Since the mid 1960s, however, these different Asian American groups have come together to promote and protect both their individual and their united interests. The first book to examine this particular subject, "Asian American Panethnicity" is a highly detailed case study of how, and with what success, diverse national-origin groups can come together as a new, enlarged panethnic group. Yen Le Espiritu explores the construction of large-scale affiliations, in which previously unrelated groups submerge their differences and assume a common identity. Making use of extensive interviews and statistical data, she examines how Asian panethnicity protects the rights and interests of all Asian American groups, including those, like the Vietnamese and Cambodians, which are less powerful and prominent than the Chinese and Japanese.By citing specific examples educational discrimination, legal redress, anti-Asian violence, the development of Asian American Studies programs, social services, and affirmative action, the author demonstrates how Asian Americans came to understand that only by cooperating with each other would they succeed in fighting the racism they all faced. Yen Le Espiritu is Assistant Professor in the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of California, San Diego. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Major source of Asian American panethnic information
Yen Le Espiritu's book is probably the major source of research and theory dealing with Asian American panethnicity.While there are a few other researchers doing panethnicity work with other ethnic groups, this bookremains the main source for those studying Asian Americans.

Her summariesof theories of ethnicity are very short and perhaps leave out a little toomuch.But, the book does a good job of giving the reader an introductionto some major theories in preparation for her ideas.Her main areas arepolitics, funding, census classifications and anti-Asian violence.

Iappreciate this book a great deal in that it brings together some disparatepieces of information and puts it all in the context of panethnicity. ... Read more

Product Description

MySearchLab provides students with a complete understanding of the research process so they can complete research projects confidently and efficiently. Students and instructors with an internet connection can visit www.MySearchLab.com and receive immediate access to thousands of full articles from the EBSCO ContentSelect database. In addition, MySearchLab offers extensive content on the research process itself—including tips on how to navigate and maximize time in the campus library, a step-by-step guide on writing a research paper, and instructions on how to finish an academic assignment with endnotes and bibliography.

This book examines the contemporary history, culture, and social relationships that form the fundamental issues confronted by Asians in America today. Comprehensive, yet concise, it focuses on a broad range of issues, and features a unique comparative approach that analyzes how race, class, and gender intersect throughout the contemporary Asian American experience. Chapter topics cover the history of Asians in America; emerging communities, changing realities; Asian Americans and educational opportunity; workplace issues; anti-Asian violence; Asian Americans and the media; Asian American families and identities; and political empowerment. For anyone interested in an understanding and awareness beyond the simplistic stereotype of the “model minority” —through the exposure to important concerns of Asian American groups and communities.

Customer Reviews (1)

eths textbook
I use it in my eths class
there r so many to read....
i hate the reading, but the book is ok.
its not new ,but can be used. Meanwhile, its very cheap, thats important
thx ... Read more