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Title: A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America by Ronald Takaki ISBN: 0-316-83111-5 Publisher: Back Bay Books Pub. Date: 01 June, 1994 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.33 (18 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Further Multicultural Reading from Both Perspectives
Comment: Ronald Takaki's A DIFFERENT MIRROR served as a tremedous journey in understanding how multiculturalism evolved in the United States. Had I been taught in high school and during my early college education, I would not have questioned what multiculturalism meant. Takaki's book definitely opened my eyes.
The book takes the reader through early American history from the Age of Exploration with Christopher Columbus and his encounter with the indigenous people of the Caribbean up to the L.A. riots and its relation to how multiculturalism has had an effect on American society. The unique aspect of the book had been his use of William Shakespeare's THE TEMPEST, and the main ethnic character, Caliban. In a way, Takaki used literature as a backdrop to history in order to present the analogy of the situations and experiences that many immigrants experienced at an attempt to live and survive in a "new world".
Takaki presented a true assessment of American history. There appeared to be no doubt that many immigrants from the pacific to the atlantic experienced much hardship and struggle as a result of Anglo-Saxon dominance that coveted their desire to attain opportunity in the United States. It appears ironic how un-united the U.S. had been during the nineteenth century when a large influx of immigrants arrived to their "Golden Mountain" or to see their "Lady Liberty". They arrived only to be violently attacked and ridiculed because of their culture and traditions. The so-called "melting pot" brewed to a burning point, especially during the Industrial Age.
However, the immigrants' struggles only served to benefit their future. This book should be added to the reading lists of every history class that teaches multiculturalism or a basic college survey history class. Multiculturalism taught in depth does not have to begin at the graduate level. Takaki's examination of multiculturalism does not stop with the publication of this book. The concluding chapter only emphasized that the understanding of multiculturalism continues after reading the book. I'm glad to have read this book because I now understand that there is more to American history besides Thomas Jefferson.
Rating: 5
Summary: Very realistic (and inclusive) social/historical work.
Comment: I was introduced to Takaki as an undergrad in Louisiana, reintroduced as a gaduate in New York, and again as a Graduate Assistant in Ohio. I don't believe my instructors in three states could all be wrong. Takaki does what many American writers seem to be wary of doing: putting the emphasis where it belongs. The multicultural history of this country has been based on little more than exploitation. It doesn't necessarity matter who it was being done to, because it had similar results with nearly each minority group. One thing I have to teach my conservative, mid-Western students is to move beyond the "white guilt" many Americans seem to suffer from in order to see that the oppression minorities were victim to was a systematic process based on totalitarian ideals, and not some inherent white evil. I believe by presenting the information the way Takaki has, he allows readers to read a multifaceted version of American history (not the myopic, one dimensional history taught in American schools) that effectively places different groups within a specific time and place in history. If you are not afraid to read some truth about America (without the artificiality of "Pomp and Circumstance"), this is for you. This book does not make America out to be the melting pot it wishes it were. I will teach this book in my future classes.
Rating: 5
Summary: Wish I'd learned this back twenty years ago.
Comment: It's given me a much broader and different view on diversity and culture. It's good to see American history through the stories of cultures other than the ruling class. It also made me very aware that the story of so many cultures here are variations of the same thing -- that we have so much in common. I know many people that complain that the theme here is "white men are bad," but I think they miss an important point. Takaki shows that white men -- who weren't part of the ruling class -- go through pretty much the same treatment. My conclusion was that it isn't culture that divides us as much as it is wealth.
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Title: Strangers From a Different Shore by Ronald Takaki ISBN: 0316831301 Publisher: Back Bay Books Pub. Date: 23 September, 1998 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: A Larger Memory: A History of Our Diversity With Voices by Ronald Takaki ISBN: 0316311626 Publisher: Back Bay Books Pub. Date: 23 September, 1998 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Kaleidoscope: Stories of the American Experience by Barbara Perkins, George B. Perkins ISBN: 0195072227 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: June, 1997 List Price(USD): $34.95 |
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Title: Lies My Teacher Told Me : Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James W. Loewen ISBN: 0684818868 Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: 03 September, 1996 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Ethnic Los Angeles by Roger Waldinger ISBN: 0871549026 Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation Pub. Date: January, 1997 List Price(USD): $27.50 |
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