Customer Reviews

The Asian American Movement (Asian American History & Cultu)

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This book was notable in being the first mass-market book on the Asian American Movement. As far as I'm concerned, that was its only selling point. I was struck by his hostility towards the movement [and all things radical, it seems], and I would have let that slide if only he could even get the facts right.

As a former board member of one of the organizations mentioned in his book, the Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence, I know for a fact that it was not related to the Asian American movements on the west coast. CAAAV was founded in the 1980's in New York City and its founders had nothing to do with the "Serve the People" programs. So, wrong time and place. Also, I was invoved with the flag-burning issue and am certain that the Revolutionary Communist Party never claimed that flag-burning would or could lead to revolution. The RCP does support revolution and flag-burning so it might be easy for the casual observer to conflate the two, but for a piece of research, it's unacceptable. I am not in a position to refute the other historical claims he makes, but I believe more than a little skepticism is in order.

Don't get me wrong, I don't insist that authors be "unbiased", which is impossible, only that they be open about their biases and try to utilize facts to support their arguments. Wei doesn't do the first and doesn't do a great job of the second..

For a better reading, try the State of Asian America edited by Karen Aguilar-San Juan and Legacy to Liberation edited by Fred Ho.

Years ago, I took a class called "Producing Asian-American Sexuality" at Brown University in which we read this book. I may be a little sketchy on the details. But I think it contributes nicely to Asian-American studies with its focus on the history of activism. The articles talk about Asian Americans, particularly on the West Coast, who were influenced by Black Power, feminism, and the antiwar movement, and decided to start their own political groups. Its focus is on the 1960s and 1970s. I would add it to any Asian American studies collection. Further, I am sure that this book is required reading in a number of ethnic studies courses around the nation. So I'm a little shaky on the facts, but I recall this being a decent book.