Chinatown: A Portrait of a Closed Society [Paperback]

Gwen Kinkead (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1993

A look into New York City's Chinatown discusses its people--newly arrived immigrants who work in garment factories and restaurants--and the enclave they have created there for themselves. 25,000 first printing. $25,000 ad/promo.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Kinkead vividly describes the variety, poverty, resilience and frenzy of Chinatown and its residents.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Journalist Kinkead presents a stilted account that highlights the seamier side of New York City's Chinatown. She takes the reader on a rambling tour of gambling, drug lords, extortion, murder, racial hatred, and intergenerational clashes yet makes little attempt to cover any of the more positive and life-enhancing aspects of Chinese family support, religion, or education in this society. She also draws no conclusions about the society. This is mostly due to Kinkead's New Yorker style of anecdotal reporting; not surprising, since she is a frequent contributor to the magazine. This book is little more than an armchair Chinatown travelog, offering the excitement and titillation of foreign vice in an alien landscape. Kinkead is at least honest in making no pretense that this is a balanced, scholarly, sociological investigation. Optional.
- Glenn Masuchika, Chaminade Univ. Lib., Honolulu
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Perennial (June 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060922133
• ISBN-13: 978-0060922139
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,485,049 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Chinatown: A Portrait of a Closed Society, September 12, 2003

By 

"kayy9l" (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chinatown: A Portrait of a Closed Society (Hardcover)

I have to concur with the previous review that this book is written by an outsider. As someone who has grown up in New York City's Chinatown and is still a resident there, I can say that the superficial views represented in this book misrepresent the true core of the community. Kinkead paints an exaggerated image of exoticism and mystery; the book is overly simplistic, quite patronizing and perpetuates stereotypes of Chinese-Americans and Chinese immigrants. The author makes assumptions about how members of the community feel about their own surroundings and manipulates the information that is given to her through interviews and research to reflect her own judgments. This is no documentary. As a Chinese resident in Chinatown, I feel misrepresented and very much the object of the author's fanciful thoughts. The author uses negative stereotypes and generalizations as the points of departure for her statements.

No less aggravating than Kinkead's take on Chinatown are the reviewers' comments on the covers, which reveal that they are as baffled and mystified by the neighborhood as she is. The book is more about the brave outsider who, against all odds, manages to break down barriers and attempts to understand a dark, dangerous and foreign community. Is this really an intimate portrait of Chinatown or a prescribed self-discovery journey? Often Kinkead refers to residents as "prisoners" living in Chinatown. I can attest that I do not feel trapped in my own community and have chosen to live here. And yes, I do venture outside of Chinatown and have "spoken to a white person."

All of the problems I had with this "portrait of a closed society" raise the following issue: perhaps people like Ms. Kinkead would find neighborhoods like Chinatown less mysterious, less foreign and more a part of the fabric of New York City if so many of their recent ancestors hadn't tried so hard to ostracize the Chinese-American community in the first place. The significance of the book, then, is that it is the residue of prejudices that typified those earlier chapters of New York and American history. In this case the book should have been titled "Chinatown: Portrait of a Closed Mind."

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A bird's eye view -- at best, November 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Chinatown: A Portrait of a Closed Society (Hardcover)

To me, this book seems to have been written from a great distance. When are caucasian writers going to stop calling themselves "bold" and "daring" when they "lift the curtain" on Chinatown? Stop all the self-congratulation. This is a book written from the point of view of an OUTSIDER, which is okay, but let's call it what it is. Read "The New Chinatown" by Peter Kwong or "Born to Kill" by T.J. English, both books about the Asian community written with compassion and understanding.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Sometimes confusing but entertaining, March 9, 1999

By 

Allen97 (Manhattan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chinatown: A Portrait of a Closed Society (Hardcover)

I live near New York's Chinatown and walk through it almost daily. I'm intrigued by the subject of a society that IS very much closed from the rest of America.

This book answers a lot of my questions and is very entertaining and informative; however, it obviously went through several re-writes. Some paragraphs seem stuffed in without any rhyme or reason to them. Confusing. Sentences don't connect with each other.

I hope this book is reprinted with more-recent facts.