Asian Americans: An Interpretive History (Immigrant Heritage of America Series) (Paperback)

by Sucheng Chan (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal
YA-- The experiences of early Asian immigrants are examined through their domestic situations, the lives of women who were struggling to cope without the support of their families in their homeland, and the social organizations that became central to their being. These organizations met the new arrivals at the ship, arranged jobs, established credit, helped to arrange marriages, and even buried them if they died in this country. The final chapter looks at the current status of Asian-Americans and explores their contribution to American life through film, writing, and other areas. Anyone wishing to do research would do well to get their hands on this book. The density of detail on people from Asia is enormous, and the currency is taken into the '90s with reports on court decisions that have occurred within the last year. Included is a list of films about Asian-Americans. --Barbara Weathers, Duchesne Academy, Houston, TX
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal
Chan (history and Asian American studies, Univ. of California) has written an excellent introduction to the history of Asians in the United States from the 1840s to the present. Based upon existing scholarship, Chan portrays Asian-Americans not just as victims of racial discrimination, but as agents of change attempting to shape their own destinies. Thus, exclusionary laws and incidents of anti-Asian violence are countered by examples of legal or political action on the part of individuals or groups to improve their conditions. Despite their successes, Chan cautions against accepting the image of Asians as the "model minority," pointing out differences among Asian groups and continued discriminatory barriers. Including a chronology and filmography, this is an essential purchase for undergraduate collections, especially where issues of diversity have introduced a need for a concise overview of this subject.
- Kathleen Hirooka, Stanford Univ. Lib., Cal.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Twayne Publishers; 1 edition (January 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805784373
• ISBN-13: 978-0805784374
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #88,438 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent general resource, August 9, 2000

By	"nancy1234567" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

Sucheng Chan offers a statistic-rich, informative history of Asian-Americans, from their first immigration to current issues of As-Ams as "model minorities". I definitely prefer Chan's style to Takaki's quote-heavy, anecdotal approach; she is both thorough and concise.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars difficult experiences for over a century, February 18, 2007

By	W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Not a casual read. Chan describes well over a hundred years of Asians emigrating to and growing up in the United States. Many of the pages describe years of backbreaking toil, especially in the California goldfields, and in the building of the transcontinental railroads. Exacerbated by periodic bouts of discrimination by the European settlers and immigrants.

In a relatively short book, the account cannot be comprehensive. Complexity is added, due to the different nationalities of Asians that came over. Chinese. Japanese. Filipinos. Koreans. There never was one unitary Asian bloc in the US. Thus descriptions of various benevolent social and cultural organisations that arose are often split by ethnicity or nationality.

The text also shows that the civil rights movement of the 1950-1970s, while primarily for Negroes, also benefited Asians. Something not necessarily widely known or appreciated today.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Reference, March 1, 2006

By	E Neel (Houston TX) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book give a little overview of a multitude of topics, nothing indepth, but rather a 'light read'.