Customer Reviews

Strangers from a Different Shore: A History of Asian Americans

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Ronald Takaki did an excellent job in writing the Asian Americans experience from the first generation of immigrants to current issues that are affecting Asian Americans today. One of Takaki's aims in this book is to tell his readers the role of Asian-Americans in shaping the history of America. Many, he believes, held the view that being an American means being "white" which is far from the truth.

Takaki uses a variety of sources such as personal recollection, oral testimonies, newspapers, court cases, personal observations, among others. This makes his writings very credible indeed.

One of Takaki's aim is to bring a deeper understanding of Asian-Americans to his readers. Reading his book enables you to understand the Asian culture, their beliefs, ideas and why they become who they are today. Besides that, Takaki does not focus on only one ethnic group but several others that make up the so called "Asian American" minority group.

I recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about Asian Americans and the roles they played in shaping America today. It is important to learn about different ethnic group as the history of America is essentially a history of immigrants and it is important for us not to neglect this minority group which has made tremendous contributions to the nation and its society.

A common struggle exists for citizens of America, specifically Asian-Americans; the question ironically is: are we Americans at all? Hawaii, where Asians are the majority, sets the background for immigration in the early 1900's. Ronald Takaki does an excellent job of giving accurate details of the start of early 1st generation Asians.

Surprisingly unprejudiced, Takaki uses superb quotes to give opinions and feeling of the Asian-Americans. Along with emotional impact, _Strangers From a Different Shore_ contains many stories, statistics, and laws providing the sense of what rights and true freedom Asian-Americans really had in the land of equals.

A well researched book, with almost every paragraph containing reference to many other articles and books, Takaki provides specific sections for major Asian ethnicities, and general details for the many other countries out there. With details of competition of Asian races among each other, leaving nothing out. Takaki does not side to Japanese as the most neglected or accepted, and gives information of the faults of Japanese among the ethnicities as well.

_Strangers From a Different Shore_ also gives the dramatic accounts of WWII, a strong turning point from the involvement of Japan and its victims. Retelling the involvement of many Asians serving America's army, it also includes the story of the 442/100 and the internment/relocation (not concentration) of the Japanese

Jumping to current day society, Asians are still struggling to become part of America. Asians currently battling many stereotypes still, which are viewed as factual information, brings Takaki to dissect some of the newer passive racial markings.

I find this book dead accurate, and backed up very well (just look at the bibliography). I have found _Strangers From a Different Shore_ a great read and recommend this book to everyone. It might not provide the same experience as an Asian-American would have, but hopefully all can relate to it no matter what race.

This book, Strangers From a Different Shore by Ronald Takaki, is a great book to read. Ron Takaki tells stories about how Asian Americans travel to America, to find a better job. They leave behind their families not knowing if they are going to come back. This book covers many Asian races like the Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Filipinos, Indians, Vietnamese and other Asian races that journeyed to America in search of prosperity. As an Asian American myself, this book has taught me more about my ancestors than our history books. If you are interested in Asian Americans, I suggest reading this book because it will make things more clear about Asian American history as well as their hardships of landing into a unknown world where Caucasians are jealous, angry and ready to kill because of so many people taking their jobs. Ronald Takaki describes in detail how Asian Americans had to overcome all their hardships. Like getting false papers, traveling by boat to America, imprisonment on Angel Island, how they searched for gold, etc. Ronald Takaki writes an ideal "textbook" about Asian Americans, but this "textbook" does not seem to feel like one. It is fun to read, enjoyable, and informative. This is one of the best books that I have read in a long time.

From the outset, I want to say that I like this book very much. It is one of the classics of Asian American history and it is certainly one of the best "one-stop shops" for a detailed, accurate historical account of the Asian American experience. Takaki makes some very useful contributions to our understanding of the major historical currents at work during the different periods of Asian migration and offers cogent reasons for why various Asian American communities look the way that they do. Finally, he does a great job of highlighting the differences between each of the groups that are lumped together under the term "Asian".

That being said, I also feel that Takaki compromises some of his historical mission through his constant need to include the voices of individual Asian Americans and their persecutors as a chorus in his work. While it is no doubt important to have people "testify" as to their experiences, I find myself wondering what other things they said that do not simply support the wonderfully direct narrative that he constructs. Moreover, there is so much in the way of anecdote and detail and so little in the way of deep analysis that in the end I wished that Takaki had applied his undoubted talents over a slightly smaller focus, the better to get at the underlying complexities. This is perhaps where ethnic studies and anthropology part company.

Please don't get me wrong, I think this book is a great improvement over Lynn Pan's trite journalism or some of the other so-called histories of our peoples. But, while I don't wish to denigrate Takaki's work, it seems a very small step from this work to the simple glorification of "experience" (even if it's "our" experience") at the expense of reasoned, careful analysis. Frank Chin has castigated Asian American writers for wallowing in self-revelation, and though I think Frank can be a bit of a grumpy old man at times, I have to say I agree with him. I understand that "Strangers" was originally written in a far different climate than the one which we now inhabit, a time when Asian-bashing was far less circumspect and Vincent Chin's memory was still fresh in everyone's mind. But I think we can do Vincent (and Amadou Diallo and all our other sisters and brothers in oppression), more justice if we THINK HARD about what it means to be someone of color in this country rather than simply FEEL.

That's my 2 cents anyway.

Ronald Takaki opens the gate to Asian American history. When one reads STRANGERS FROM A DIFFERENT SHORE: A HISTORY OF ASIAN AMERICANS, there is no doubt that this area of study still needs further examination beyond what has already been written. While reading this book, two critical areas come to mind when studying the intricacies and complexities of American history and all its participants -- Asian American history about social intolerance and injustice that was imposed on many Asian immigrants during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries? This as well as other interpretations of the presence of Asians within American history is the main premise of Takaki's study, which centers on the "stranger" or the "other," and how their story was no different from their European counterparts - seeking the romanticized and majestic "American dream," but happened to encounter social indifferences along the way.

Takaki roughly covers the broad spectrum of Asian immigration from the 1830s to the late 1980s. He specifically examines the Chinese, Filipinos, Japanese, and briefly the latter, Korean, Asian-Indians, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laotian immigrants. The book contains immense information pertaining to Chinese and Japanese immigration, and Takaki concentrates on the Pacific Rim -- Hawaii, California, and the Pacific Northwest where Asian presence has had a significant social, political, and economical effect on the particular region. Although Takaki provides a vast amount of detail, one thing lacking in his study is the mention of the arrival of Filipinos in New Orleans during the late eighteenth century. It may have been helpful if he also spoke a little bit more about the East coast of the United States.

Nonetheless, STRANGERS FROM A DIFFERENT SHORE magnifies Asian American history and shows the misconceptions, stereotypes, myths, and the never-ending reference to "other". Indeed, Asian American history shows the undesirable side to history, and hopefully, more scholarship will be written where Takaki has left off in order to provide a balanced representation that shows the good and bad in a way that other events in American history have already done. This is a great introduction for anyone who wants to have a better understanding of Asian American history as well as Asian American culture.

Ronald Takaki chronicles the history of Asian immigration to the US, beginning with the first Chinese laborers in the 1840's to the recent wave of Filipino professionals. The book is researched in great detail, but Takaki also makes extensive use of the immigrants' own voices through their writings and recollections to bring their extraordinary tales and hardships to life. Although the focus is on the largest groups: Chinese, Japanese, and Filipinos, he also examines the arrival of Koreans, East Indians, Vietnamese, Laotions, and Cambodians.

Many of the stories and incidents related are deeply moving. The ferocity of the prejudice, exploitation, and legal discrimination Asian immigrants faced is vividly portrayed.

This book should be mandatory reading for anyone who thinks the US has an immigration "problem".

"Strangers" is a comprehensive history of Asian American immigration into the US. This is history that one will not get from mainstream history classes. Dr. Takaki weaves his story with extensive research and eyewitness accounts.

For me, it brought home their struggles to come to America, to make a living and to be accepted as American. On a personal note, some of the types of incidents described in the book were experienced by my relatives and myself.

Dr. Takaki shows that the characteristics that established Americans reviled in these "strangers" were a by-product of exclusionary policies. For example, exclusionary immigration policies constrained the population of eligible immigrant females forcing immigrant males to find company with white females. This led to interracial dating/marriage and raised the ire of white Americans. Laws against miscegenation, interracial marriage, followed.

It's not an easy read, but definitely worthy of your consideration.

This was my textbook for my Asian-American History class in college and this was one I did not sell back. This is a very interesting read about the various groups of Asian immigrants to America and their struggles. This is history you never hear about and thus makes it even more captivating. Takaki's style of writing is easy to follow and never dull. I recommend this for anyone who is seriously interested in race studies or American history.

Ronald Takaki's Strangers From A Different Shore is not your typical history book. I find it more as a sit-down-and-drink-your-coffee book. This book is very interesting read as it is an addictive page turner. I was required to read this book for Professor Susie Ling's Asain American History class at Pasadena City College.

The experiences of Chinese Americans, Japanese Americans, Filipino Americans, Koreans Americans, Asain Indian Americans, Vietnamese Americans, Cambodian Americans, Hmong Americans, and Laotian Americans were very emotional, true, surprising and interesting. However, I was dissapointed that Ronald Takaki did not elaborate on the Thai Americans. As a Chinese woman born in Thailand (forth generation Chinese Thai), I was dissatisfied with the information on Thai Americans. First of all, Ronald Takaki did not mention a lot about the Thai immigrants. In fact, I don't recall any memory of them.

In addition, when he did mention the Thai people, he protrayed only the Thai pirates that killed and raped Vietnamese refugees in the South China Sea during the Vietnam War.

I feel as though he neglected to give the diverse experiences of this minority group. In spite of the fact that there are not as many Thais compared to the other Asian ethnic groups, they must be represented. They are part of the Asian community, and moreover, they are diverse in all socio-economical levels.

On the other hand, Ronald Takaki did give a little history about the Mexicans Americans and Afican Americans. Which I thought was very important and stimulating to learn about.

On the whole, other than the neglection of the Thai Americans, this book is fun and stimulating to read. Ronald Takaki can really protray the experiences of the Asian Amreicans and make students like me relate to them.

I recommend this book to whoever is interested in history in general, American history or people who would like to read this book over the coffee table... :-)~D

Lina Chai

This book was in good condition as describe by the seller. Some highlighted marks, but it was as discussed by the seller. So thumbs up.