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Title: The Chinese in America: A Narrative History by Iris Chang ISBN: 0-670-03123-2 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: 28 April, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.09 (11 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: journalistic superficiality
Comment: The initial portion of the book is a lucid and well organized account of Chinese-American history. The latter half of the book, falters into a jargonistic series of feature stories, which are interesting anecdote, but fail to make any real point. While Ms. Chang is specific in referring to Chinese immigrants by time and place (e.g. "ABC" American born chinese), she uses gross and undefined terms for everyone else (e.g. "Caucasians", "whites" "white culture"). The term "Caucasian" is as meaningless and offensive as the terms "Oriental" Ms. Chang fails to mention that the same opprobrium reserved for the Chinese, was also brought to bear on the Irish and other "white" groups. It is too simplistic to look at "whites" v. "Chinese" as a paradigm for a study of ethnic assimilation. As a journalist, lacking historical acumen or training, Ms. Chang ultimately has little to add.
Rating: 3
Summary: Decent introduction, strong activist angle; littlenew ground
Comment: Unlike her groundbreaking "Rape of Nanking", in which the combination of explosive new material on a covert history and Iris Chang's biting investigative/pursuit tone worked effectively, this book covers familiar Chinese-American history broadly and in great quantity, but presents little startling new revelations (although some of the original interviews are fresh). Some important historical details are glossed over (and wrong in a few cases). At times, her observations are quite biased. As a longtime student of Chinese and Chinese-American history, I was somewhat disappointed that Chang did not "blow the covers off". Nevertheless, the book does serve as a good overview of the Chinese-American experience. Chang's contribution here is that she allows readers to see it from the viewpoint of a Chinese-American, and understand that the racism, struggle and bitter triumph of this experience is still ongoing. That is the theme that she does a good job underscoring with her choice of focus. The tone of her writing is "essay-like", not professorial or objective.
Rating: 5
Summary: Cant put it down
Comment: Iris Chang certainly did her research as evidenced by her profuse footnotes and references. Not only is her book well researched, it is well written. Chang, coming from a journalist background, really knows how to make it concise while at the same time giving it lots of emotion.
The book begins around the railroad era and ends with the Wen Ho Lee scandal. She ends with a very pertinent one: the history will never be complete.
Just by reading this nonfiction book, I think it gives a better representation of what it means to grow up in America as a Chinese as opposed to Amy Tan's writing.
She emphasizes that Asians ARE discriminated against, contrary to popular opinion.
Amy Tan's writing is more a story of assimiliation of two cultures: American and Chinese.
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Title: The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II by Iris Chang, William C. Kirby ISBN: 0140277447 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: November, 1998 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Thread of the Silkworm by Iris Chang ISBN: 0465006787 Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: November, 1996 List Price(USD): $18.50 |
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Title: Asian American Dreams : The Emergence of an American People by Helen Zia ISBN: 0374527369 Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux Pub. Date: 15 May, 2001 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: At America's Gates: Chinese Immigration During the Exclusion Era, 1882-1943 by Erika Lee ISBN: 0807854484 Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Pr Pub. Date: 19 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White by Frank H. Wu ISBN: 046500640X Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: 25 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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