Asian American Dreams The Emergence of an American People

by Zia, Helen

• ISBN13: 9780374527365
• ISBN10: 0374527369
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-05-15
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Summary

This groundbreaking book traces the transformation of Asian Americans from a few small, disconnected, and largely invisible ethnic groups into a self-identified racial group that is influencing every aspect of American society. It explores the events that shocked Asian Americans into motion and shaped a new consciousness. Helen Zia, the daughter of Chinese immigrants, writes as a personal witness to the dramatic changes involving Asian Americans. Helen Zia, a graduate of Princeton University's first co-educational class, is an award-winning journalist who has covered Asian American communities and political movements for twenty years. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. This groundbreaking book traces the transformation of Asian Americans from a few small, disconnected, and largely invisible ethnic groups into a self-identified racial group that is influencing every aspect of American society. It explores the events that shocked Asian Americans into motion and shaped a new consciousness, including the murder of Vincent Chin, a Chinese American, by two white autoworkers who beleived he was Japanese; the apartheid-like working conditions of Filipinos in the Alaska salmon canneries; the boycott of Korean American greengrocers in Brooklyn; the L.A. riots; and the casting of non-Asians in the Broadway musicalMiss Saigon. The book also examines the rampant sterotyping of Asian Americans, which has an impact on key issues concerning all Americans, from affirmative action and campaign finance to popular culture and national security. "An ambitious blend of personal and cultural history, a primer on Asian America that covers everything from the history of Asian immigration to the turbulence of the past three decades as the community has gone from silent majority to demanding its place in American society."Ferdinand M. de Leon,The Seattle Times "An ambitious blend of personal and cultural history, a primer on Asian America that covers everything from the history of Asian immigration to the turbulence of the past three decades as the community has gone from silent majority to demanding its place in American society."Ferdinand M. de Leon,The Seattle Times "An important book because it seeks to answer a question that few other popular works pose: What does it take for people like the author to become fully American?"Somini Sengupta,The New York Times Book Review "Written with journalistic clarity,Asian American Dreamsoffers a way out of the cycle of racial prejudice, discrimination and violence. Its examples of individuals and communities that have spanned cultural antipathies to fight for a cause serve as beacons of hope."Roger Yim,San Francisco Chronicle "Helen Zia has produced what many of us were waiting foran honest, scholarly, yet intensely personal book about the transformation of Asian America. She deftly interweaves the remarkable history of a people with her own unique journey as a pioneer activist and writer. The resultAsian American Dreamsis a fresh and incisive narrative, epic in its sweep, thrilling in its verve and clarity."Iris Chang, author ofThe Rape of Nanking "A rich chronicle of personal and national history involving Asian Americans that examines issues ranging from immigration patterns to stereotypes in entertainment."Dinah Eng,Gannett News "Dreamsis a wonderful, sophisticated, lively sociohistorical biography of Asian Pacific Americans fighting back to broaden the human rights of U.S. citizens and immigrants alike. Herein Helen Zia emerges as the foremost activist-chronicler of the eighties and nineties."John Kuo Wei Tchen, professor, New York University, author

Author Biography

Helen Zia, a graduate of Princeton University's first co-educational class, is an award-winning journalist who has covered Asian American communities and political movements for twenty years. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Table of Contents

Introduction	ix
I BEYOND OUR SHADOWS
From Nothing, a Consciousness	3	(18)
Surrogate Slaves to American Dreamers	21	(34)
II THE AWAKENING
Detroit Blues: ``Because of You Motherfuckers''	55	(27)
To Market, to Market, New York Style	82	(27)
Gangsters, Gooks, Geishas, and Geeks	109	(30)
III UP FROM INNOCENCE
Welcome to Washington	139	(27)
Lost and Found in L. A.	166	(29)
For Richer, for Poorer	195	(32)
IV MOVING THE MOUNTAIN
Out on the Front Lines	227	(25)
Reinventing Our Culture	252	(29)
The Last Bastion	281	(30)
Living Our Dreams	311	(10)
Bibliography	321	(8)
Acknowledgments	329	(4)
Index	333

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