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The Movement and the Moment chronicles the tumultuous decades of the Asian American experience from the civil Rights Movement through the Anti-war Movement in the 1960s/1970s, and the Third World, women's, and gay movements up to the 1990s.An encyclopedia of visual resource materials (fifty artists/photographers); and primary sources of Asian American/U.S./labor/social history and comparative ethnic/racial history. ... Read more

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In the United States, Ishmael Reed, Leslie Marmon Silko, Ralph Ellison, N. Scott Momaday, Toni Morrison, Rudolfo Anaya, Sandra Cisneros, Maxine Hong Kingston, and Jessica Hagedorn are among the notable writers of color who have emerged since World War II. Although definitely individual and widely diverse, they are all-American in their collective mixture of African American, Native American, Asian American, and Hispanic strains. The work of each, although distinct, has not remained in cultural isolation but has enriched the inclusive literary treasury of the United States.

This comprehensive, timely study by a British scholar closely examines their fiction and autobiographical writings in cultural perspective. It analyzes the ways politics and popular tradition have influenced their work and the ways these ethnic authors address and question such matters as whiteness, autobiography, geography, and the forms of prose.

Other books have explored the variety of ethnic traditions in American literature, but this is the first to consider them in comparative terms in a single volume. In focusing on these writers and their place in the context of American history and contemporary popular culture, Multicultural American Literature underlines the reality that it is multicultural writing that has revolutionized recent American literary history.

For those wishing clear and accurate perspective on the national literature of the present day, this informative book analyzes the spectrum and provides an exact and faithful view of its multicultural character.

A. Robert Lee, a professor of American literature at Nihon University in Tokyo, is the author of Designs of Blackness: Mappings in the Literature and Culture of Afro-America and, with Gerald Vizenor, Postindian Conversations. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

A wonderfully intelligent contribution
Editorial Review
Lee begins by pointing out that the term "fiction" in the book's title includes many genres, such as novels, novellas, stories, story-cycles, verse chronicles, and autobiography. In the first chapter, he analyzes several important novels, drawn from what he calls four different "legacies," by Ralph Ellison, Scott Momaday, Rudolfo Anaya, and Maxine Hong Kingston. This is followed by a deft and perceptive account of ethnic autobiography, and the permutations it undergoes in writers such as N. Scott Momaday, John Edgar Wideman and Lorene Cary, Piri Thomas and Gloria Anzaldua, Garrett Hongo and Li-Young Lee, among others. The following chapters focus on specific issues within (successively)the African American, Native American, Chicano and Asian American traditions. In doing so, however, he is careful to point out that these categories are deceptively wide, and that writers may belong to more than one tradition (the case of Scott Momaday, with links to Kiowa, Cherokee, and Jemez Pueblo comes to mind). In keeping with recent developments in the field of cultural geography, he then shifts to an emphasis on ethnic sites and topographies, such as Harlem, Indian country, the Borderlands, and Indian Town. The book concludes with a chapter on multicultural postmodernism, and with an excellent epilogue titled "Fictions of Whiteness" on the complexities of white ethnic identity. Lee is dazzlingly well read and articulate, and his perceptive analyses are guaranteed to delight and, on occasion, infuriate his readers. Multicultural American Literature is a wonderfully intelligent contribution to the continuing debate about the nature of the canon of United States literature.
Susan Castillo, Journal of American Studies, Vol. 40, No. 2, July 2006.

Wide-ranging interpretations
A. Robert Lee's Multicultural American Literature: Comparative Black, Native, Latino/a Literature weaves together wide-ranging interpretations of American writing into a study with near encyclopedic breadth. For his "busy" but "locally attentive" synthesis, Lee's ambitious task is to situate "each text within multiple contexts of U.S. culture and ethnicity, both high and broad, and yet give recognition to particularity, a self-fashioning force of invention" (16). Following this scheme of modular minimalism, Lee's chapters cover dozens of novels and poems in extensive chains of capsule interpretations and flurries of deft contextual sketches, covering a plurality of experiences and modes of writing.
An early chapter on the ethnic quartet of Ralph Ellison, N. Scott Momaday, Rudolfo Anaya, and Maxine Hong Kingston prefigures the book's geohistorical interpretive texture, yoking together "the Afro-America of Dixie, the Native America of Jemez Pueblo reservation, the chicanismo of New Mexico and the "'Gold Mountain' Chinese America of San Francisco," each representing for Lee "a virtuosity which carries the local towards an emphatically more inclusive ambit" (20). Lee's emphatically inclusive ambit spans separate chapters on canonical and less-read fiction under the categories under the categories of African American, Asian American, Latino, and Native American Fiction, and chapters on generic and thematic categories such as autobiography, urban and island cultural geographies, and ethnic postmodernism. The final figure to emerge in this critical tapestry is culturally constituted whiteness, the "not-so-secret sharer in the setting of terms whereby almost all American literary activity has been construed," which Lee's study primes for genealogical revision.
Alex Feerst, American Literature,Vol. 78, June 2006

Multicultural American Literature: Comparative Black, Native, Latin, and Asian American Fictions
Wordy, bias, book of hate.

I do not say things lightly, and yes, I have read it cover to cover. Essentially, whites are evil and everyone is a victim are the two central thesis points.

All of the examples point to this idea.

The book is very difficult to read, both for its wordiness and its content.

Whatever happened to "I have a dream that we would not judge each other by the color of our skin, but the content of our character."

the best fundament to built further researches on!!
I can only highly recommend A. Robert Lee's *Multicultural American Literature* to anyone interested, in the broadest sense, in American Literature.I am working on my PhD and am using Lee's book for my thesis as I have used it already to earn my Magister Artium.
I fail to comprehend how some reviewers can claim Lee's book to be unorganized, it is very well structured and easy to follow and yet it offers new insights to even advanced researchers.
At first there is a general introduction to the topic and the problematic of *Multicultural American Literature,* the dilemma of authors with a mixed ancestry unable to claim one cultural heritage as their own and only true one.
Then follows an overview of the most leading authors of various ethnic groups, that are easily overlooked in a canon still mostly made up of DWAS.Then Lee focuses on the themes which are common across all ethnic groups making up *Multicultural American Literature*.Then he leads the reader on to a brief history of African American literature, Native American literature, Chicano/a Literature and Asian American literature.He discusses similarities and differences between and within each ethnic group--just as well as the Native American's dilemma of being pressed in one nation but actually being a kaleidoscopic group of nations.
Lee even includes Island America.
Of course after reading *Multicultural American Literature* one does not know all about American Literature but has one of the best fundaments to build further researches on and a fair knowledge of the often neglected and falsely called minority literature.

skims without depth
This book is a general survey with many pages of summary of both primary and secondary literature but very little analysis. It fits lots of titles into its broad discussion but offers neither insightful interpretation nor adequate interrogation of the criticism or theory that is needed to interpret the literature. I bought this hoping it would help me prepare to teach a college-level course on the subject and was sorely disappointed. ... Read more

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This book is conceived as a reader for use in American studies, Asian American studies, ethnic studies, gender studies, lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender studies, performance studies, and queer studies. It also contains new scholarship on Asian/American sexualities that would be useful for faculty and students. In particular, this volume highlights materials that receive little academic attention such as works on Southeast Asian migrants, mixed race cultural production, and Asian/American pornography. As an interdisciplinary anthology, this collection weaves together various forms of _knowledge__autobiographical accounts, humanistic research, community-based work, and artistic expression. Responsive to the imbrication of knowledge and power, the authors aspire to present a diverse sample of discourses that construct Asian/American bodies. They maintain that the body serves as the primary interface between the individual and the social, yet, as Elizabeth Grosz noted over a decade ago, feminist theory, and gender and sexuality studies more generally, _has tended, with some notable exceptions, to remain uninterested in or unconvinced about the relevance of refocusing on bodies in accounts of subjectivity._ This volume attempts to address this concern. ... Read more

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This important work examines contemporary immigration rules and how they affect the make-up of immigrant communities. The authors' key argument is that immigration policies place race and class as important criteria for gaining entry to the United States, and in doing so, alter the makeup of America's immigrant communities. ... Read more

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As a book about cultural memory and retrieval, this collection of essays asks readers to reconsider who represents Asian America and what constitutes its history. Defining the early period as spanning the nineteenth century and the 1960s, the original essays here speak to the difficulty of recovering a past that was largely unrecorded as well as understanding the varied experiences of peoples of Asian descent. Interdisciplinary in approach, the essays address the Asian American individuals and communities that have been omitted from "official" histories; trace the roots of persistent racial stereotypes and myths; and retrieve artistic production that raises vexed questions of what counts as "art" or as Asian American. By reconsidering the political, cultural, and material history written in the last three decades, this volume contributes to a new understanding of Asian America's past and relationship to the present. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Asian American Studies
This book was quite interesting though the class at the university was more about theories and politics than I had liked. The stories and experiences that the people share in this book were truly touching and intriguing. ... Read more

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Combining archival research in Chinese language sources with oral history interviews, Ranqiu Yu examines the Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance (CHLA), an organization that originated in 1933 to help Chinese laundry workers break their isolation in American society. Yu brings to life the men who labored in New York laundries, depicting their meager existence, their struggles against discrimination and exploitation, and their dreams of returning to China. The persistent efforts of the CHLA succeeded in changing the workers' status in American society and improving the image of the Chinese among the American public.

Yu is especially concerned with the political activities of the CHLA, which was founded in reaction to proposed New York City legislation that would have put the Chinese laundries out of business. When the conservative Chinese social organization could not help the launderers, they broke with tradition and created their own organization. Not only did the CHLA defeat the legislative requirements that would have closed them down, but their "people's diplomacy" won American support for China during its war with Japan. The CHLA staged a campaign in the 1930s and 40s which took as its slogan, "To Save China, To Save Ourselves." Focusing on this campaign, Yu also examines the complex relationship between the democratically oriented CHLA and the Chinese American left in the 1930s. ... Read more

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Domestic violence in Asian American communities remains a rarely discussed, yet pervasive problem. With eight chapters, each dedicated to a different Asian American community, the essays in this volume explore the factors involved in domestic violence in specific communities. This unique project will provide an indispensable tool for scholars and researchers in social work and family studies who want to better understand the complexities of serving this growing and diverse population. ... Read more

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At a time when Asian-American theater is enjoying a measure of growth and success, Josephine Lee tells us about the complex social and political issues depicted by Asian-American playwrights. By looking at performances and dramatic texts, Lee argues that playwrights produce a different conception of 'Asian-America' in accordance with their unique set of sensibilities. For instance, some Asian-American playwrights critique the separation of issues of race and ethnicity from those of economics and class, or they see ethnic identity as a voluntary choice of lifestyle rather than an impetus for concerted political action. Others deal with the problem of cultural stereotypes and how to reappropriate their power. Lee is attuned to the complexities and contradictions of such performances, and her trenchant thinking about the criticisms lobbed at Asian-American playwrights-for their choices in form, perpetuation of stereotype, or apparent sexism or homophobia-leads her to question how the presentation of Asian-American identity in the theater parallels problems and possibilities of identity offstage as well.Discussed are better-known plays such as Frank Chin's "The Chickencoop Chinaman", David Henry Hwang's "M. Butterfly", and Velina Hasu Houston's "Tea", and new works like Jeannie Barroga's "Walls" and Wakako Yamauchi's "12-1-a". Author note: Josephine Lee is Assistant Professor of English at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. ... Read more

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limited history of roles
On the American stage, Lee contends that a relatively underserved topic has been the Asian American experience. As expressed in the ethnicity of the actors or in the subject material. Her book fleshes out in much detail this thesis.

Describing the paucity of roles available to Asian actors, for example.

To the extent that Asians have been depicted on stage, she also delves into how these roles were often stereotypical. Rarely did two things happen. That an Asian role would appear in a play. And that the role would be meaningful and original. ... Read more

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Available January 2004Tell This Silence by Patti Duncan explores multiple meanings of speech and silence in Asian American women's writings in order to explore relationships among race, gender, sexuality, and national identity. Duncan argues that contemporary definitions of U.S. feminism must be expanded to recognize the ways in which Asian American women have resisted and continue to challenge the various forms of oppression in their lives. There has not yet been adequate discussion of the multiple meanings of silence and speech, especially in relation to activism and social-justice movements in the U.S. In particular, the very notion of silence continues to invoke assumptions of passivity, submissiveness, and avoidance, while speech is equated with action and empowerment.

However, as the writers discussed in Tell This Silence suggest, silence too has multiple meanings especially in contexts like the U.S., where speech has never been a guaranteed right for all citizens. Duncan argues that writers such as Maxine Hong Kingston, Mitsuye Yamada, Joy Kogawa, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Nora Okja Keller, and Anchee Min deploy silence as a means of resistance. Juxtaposing their “unofficial narratives” against other histories—official U.S. histories that have excluded them and American feminist narratives that have stereotyped them or distorted their participation—they argue for recognition of their cultural participation and offer analyses of the intersections among gender, race, nation, and sexuality.

Tell This Silence offers innovative ways to consider Asian American gender politics, feminism, and issues of immigration and language. This exciting new study will be of interest to literary theorists and scholars in women's, American, and Asian American studies. ... Read more

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"In a series of essays based on original ethnographic research, Pyong Gap Min and his contributors examine the unique identity issues for second generation ethnic Asians, from Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Korean, Indian, and Vietnamese descent. They describe how societal expectations and structural barriers have a powerful influence on the formation of ethnic identities in a strongly racialized American society. Key factors discussed are the importance of culture and language retention, ethnic attachment, transnational ties, pan-Asian coalitions and friendships, social and geographic mobility, racial domination and racial awareness, life cycle changes, immigrant women's sexuality and gender traditionalism, deviant behavior, and educational and occupational achievement. This book will be a valuable resource in the study of Asian American culture, race, ethnicity and American society." ... Read more

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Japanese migration to Latin America began in the late nineteenth century, and today the continent is home to 1.5 million persons of Japanese descent. Combining detailed scholarship with rich personal histories, "The Japanese in Latin America" is the first comprehensive study of the patterns of Japanese migration on the continent as a whole. When the United States and Canada tightened their immigration restrictions in 1907, Japanese contract laborers began to arrive in mines and plantations in Latin America.Daniel M. Masterson, with the assistance of Sayaka Funada-Classen, examines Japanese agricultural colonies in Latin America, as well as the subsequent cultural networks that sprang up within and among them, and the changes that occurred as the Japanese moved from wage labor to ownership of farms and small businesses. Masterson also explores recent economic crises in Brazil, Argentina, and Peru, which combined with a strong Japanese economy to cause at least a quarter million Latin American Japanese to migrate back to Japan.Illuminating authoritative research with extensive interviews with migrants and their families, "The Japanese in Latin America" examines the dilemma of immigrants who maintained strong allegiances to their Japanese roots, even while they struggled to build lives in their new countries. ... Read more

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The Second Edition of the Handbook of Asian American Psychology fills a fundamental gap in the Asian American literature by addressing the full spectrum of methodological, substantive, and theoretical areas related to Asian American Psychology. This new edition provides important scholarly contributions by a new generation of researchers that address the shifts in contemporary issues for Asians and Asian Americans in the U.S. ... Read more

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Race, Stories, and Remembering
Okihiro's thesis in this oral history project is to examine "the nature of antiracism and its articulations with racism and their outcomes" (Okihiro, Storied Lives 137) by focusing on the assistance, the students received from other Americans (Japanese and non-Japanese) and recount their experiences as Nisei students in Word War II America. Moreover, Storied Lives articulates "in their own words" how the same Nisei students struggled to find accommodating schools to attend with or without the help of white Americans. Okihiro also seeks to acknowledge the works of white and Japanese Americans in a shared battle against racism. Okihiro contends that Asian American studies - in fact, race relations as a phenomenon - will gain from an understanding not just of racism but also of its counterpoint in antiracism. Okihiro writes that, "Like racism, it [antiracism] is situated in time and place and [it is] freighted with multiple meanings, ambiguities, and contradictions because of its complex and portable social positions and contexts" (Okihiro, Storied Lives 138).

Gary Okihiro narrates selected archived stories of the over 5,500 Japanese Americans who left the concentration camps to complete their education at more progressive non-west coast college and universities situated outside the exclusion zone. To bring these stories to life, Okihiro investigated the archives/records of both the National Japanese American Student Relocation Council and the War Relocation Authority, surveyed the colleges and universities the Nisei attended, examined and re-articulated oral histories from Nisei students,student relocation staff members, and examined the records of the and other materials. ... Read more

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This volume is the first comprehensive resource to assist neuropsychologists to provide culturally competent services to Asian Americans. It highlights pertinent historical socio-cultural characteristics of the largest Asian American ethnic groups, which helps to conceptualize presentation, provide an optimal environment for test administration, interpret tests within a cultural context, and offer culturally sensitive feedback and recommendations. In addition, the volume gives a summary of the available neuropsychological literature for each Asian American ethnic group, recommendations for testing, and illustrative case samples.

The second purpose of the volume is to provide a glimpse of how neuropsychology is currently practiced in different Asian countries, by reviewing the neuropsychological literature and by listing the available resources. This information gives valuable insights to neuropsychologists working with Asian communities throughout the world.

Neuropsychology of Asian Americans is an essential resource for clinical neuropsychologists and school psychologists who perform neuropsychological services to Asians. It is also an important resource for academic neuropsychologists and students with Asians in their sample, as cultural variables may have moderating effects on data that information in this book helps to elucidate.

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Asian American Studies/Literary Theory

A polemical analysis of the ways Orientalism speaks through the texts of prominent Asian American writers.

Asian American resistance to Orientalism-the Western tradition dealing with the subject and subjugation of the East-is usually assumed. And yet, as this provocative work demonstrates, in order to refute racist stereotypes they must first be evoked, and in the process the two often become entangled. Sheng-mei Ma shows how the distinguished careers of post-1960s Asian American writers such as Maxine Hong Kingston, Amy Tan, Frank Chin, and David Henry Hwang reveal that while Asian American identity is constructed in reaction to Orientalism, the two cultural forces are not necessarily at odds. The vigor with which these Asian Americans revolt against Orientalism in fact tacitly acknowledges the family lineage of the two.

To identify the multitude of historical forms appropriated by the deathly embrace of Orientalism and Asian American ethnicity, Ma highlights four types of cultural encounters, embodied in four metaphors of physical states: the "clutch of rape" in imperialist adventure narratives of the 1930s and 1940s, as seen in comic strips of Flash Gordon and Terry and the Pirates and in the Disney film Swiss Family Robinson; the "clash of arms" or martial metaphors in the 1970s and beyond, embodied in Bruce Lee, Kingston's The Woman Warrior, and the video game Mortal Kombat; U.S. multicultural "flaunting" of ethnicity in the work of Amy Tan and in Disney's Mulan; and global postcolonial "masquerading" of ethnicity in the Anglo-Japanese novelist Kazuo Ishiguro.

Broad in scope, penetrating in insight, Ma's work exposes the myriad ways in which Orientalism, an integral part of American culture, speaks through the texts of Asian Americans and non-Asian Americans alike. The result is a startling lesson in the construction of cultural identity.

Sheng-mei Ma is associate professor in the Department of American Thought and Language at Michigan State University and the author of Immigrant Subjectivities in Asian American and Asian Diaspora Literatures (1998).

Translation Inquiries: University of Minnesota Press ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A great premise....which then goes flat.
Sometimes I wonder what's left for ethnic studies scholars to write about.I mean, once you know early Chinese American men weren't allowed to bring their wives over and that Asian immigration substantially increased after 1965, what's next?Once African Americans have studied slave narratives and the Harlem Renaissance, what's left?Though Professor Ma analyzes issues that many other Asian-Americans scholars have already done (Chan did Fu Manchu comics, Zia did the Vincent Chin murder, Bow did Joy Luck Club), she provides a fresh theory by which to look at Asian-American matters.Basically saying that it's hard to escape Said, Ma suggests that Asian-Americans are trapped in reproducing Orientalism, even as they try to escape it.Admittedly, Ma applauds herself noting that she covers topics from the 1920s to the present in multiple genres.Still, she makes this great thesis that Orientalism and Asian-American identity have a four-staged "deathly embrace."At first, I planned to just read selected chapters, but Ma's introduction and thesis enticed me to read the entire book from page one.

Unfortunately, the rest of the book somewhat disappoints.First, not all of the chapters deal with Asian-American agency.This group had no part in the manufacture of Charlie Chan or Fu Manchu.How can Vincent Chin, a hate crime casualty, be blamed for Orientalist narratives?The penultimate chapter discusses Ishiguro, an Anglo-Japanese, not an Asian American.Further, while Ma exhausts ideas about Orientalism, she says little about Asian-American identity.I thought for sure she'd rely upon Wei's book on student activism or Espiritu on panethnicity, but it didn't happen.She leaves several stones unturned.For instance, while she discusses African-American viewers' pleasure with Bruce Lee, when discussing the video game Mortal Kombat, she never mentions that many African-American playersprefered to be the black character Jax (short for Jackson?specifically Jesse Jackson?).The book even ends with a defensive two-paged epilogue where Ma basically says, "I knew you weren't going to like this book?!"

Two things are abundantly clear here:Ma's generational status and her age.Ma knows Chinese fluently and immigrated here after years of living in China.African Americans and Afro-Brazilians often fantasize about Africa as just a place to dance and beat drums.Most Irish Americans can only imagine what Ireland was like before the famine in the 1840s.That's what ethnics in America do:have dreams about their homeland.Yet here, Ma consistently attacks Asian Americans whose multilingual skills and travel experiences are not as extensive as her own.At times, this book feels more like comparative literature than ethnic studies.

Like bell hooks' rants against Spike Lee, Ma has an axe to grind with Amy Tan.This attack has the trait I described above.It somewhat reminds me of Africanists who derided Eddie Murphy's portrayal of African royalty in "Coming to America."Again, this is due to Ma's 1.5 generational status.Though I haven't read Tan's children's story "Sagwa," I watch its cartoon everyday.Just as Black parents have embraced "The Lion King" and Latinos have embraced "Road to El Dorado," if I were an Asian-American parent, I would want my child to watch "Sagwa."Far from maligning China, the show consistently presents the country as full of tales and history and wonders.

Ma admits that she saw no problems with "Swiss Family Robinson" as a child outside of the US, yet she attacks Asian-American actors and viewers for embracing "Mulan."What kind of age bias is that?

Ma mentions biraciality often (Fu Manchu's daughter, Tan's characters, she even says Bruce Lee was 1/4 British).Still, she neither stands against miscegenation nor celebrates diversity here.Maybe it's because I'm also reading "Sum of Our Parts," but it struck me that Eurasians are just here, with nothing more said.

This was a slim text but it spoke profoundly.This was interesting, though confusing, cultural studies.This was quite a risky and ambitious text, but I'm not blown over by the result. ... Read more

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As the twentieth century closes, ethnicity stands out as a powerful force for binding people together in a sense of shared origins and worldview. But this emphasis on a people's uniqueness can also develop into a distorted rationale for insularity, inter-ethnic animosity, or, as we have seen in this century, armed conflict. Ethnic identity clearly holds very real consequences for individuals and peoples, yet there is not much agreement on what exactly it is or how it is formed. The growing recognition that ethnicity is not fixed and inherent, but elastic and constructed, fuels the essays in this collection. Regarding identity as a dynamic, on-going, formative and transformative process, "We Are a People" considers narrative the creation and maintenance of a common story as the keystone in building a sense of peoplehood.Myths of origin, triumph over adversity, migration, and so forth, chart a group's history, while continual additions to the larger narrative stress moving into the future as a people. Still, there is more to our stories as individuals and groups.Most of us are aware that we take on different roles and project different aspects of ourselves depending on the situation. Some individuals who have inherited multiple group affiliations from their families view themselves not as this or that but all at once. So too with ethnic groups. The so-called hyphenated Americans are not the only people in the world to recognize or embrace their plurality. This relatively recent acknowledgment of multiplicity has potentially wide implications, destabilizing the limited (and limiting) categories inscribed in, for example, public policy and discourse on race relations."We Are a People" is a path-breaking volume, boldly illustrating how ethnic identity works in the real world. Author note: Paul Spickard is Professor and Chair of Asian American Studies at UC Santa Barbara and is author of "Mixed Blood". W. Jeffrey Burroughs is Professor of Psychology at Brigham Young University, Hawaii. ... Read more

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Understanding the history of Asians in America is key to understanding the development of America itself. Asian American Chronology: Chronologies of the American Mosaic presents the most influential events in Asian American history—as well as key moments that have remained under the historical radar. This in-depth record covers events from the 18th century to the present day, including the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Entries, organized chronologically by category, allow readers to trace the development of Asian peoples and culture in the United States over time, including the role of Chinese labor in building railroads, the importation of Filipino slaves, labor strikes and civil rights issues, Japanese-American internment, women's roles, literature, music, politics, and increased immigration in the mid-20th century. In addition to these broad topics, the book also treats individual events from the Rock Springs Massacre to the Gold Rush to the current prevalence of Japanese players in Major League Baseball.