Asian American dreams : the emergence of an American people / Helen Zia.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Zia, Helen

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Asian Americans--Cultural assimilation.

Asian Americans.

Asian Americans--Ethnic identity.

Asian Americans--Social conditions.

Zia, Helen.

Physical Description:

x, 356 pages : illustrations ; 21 cm

Edition:

1st pbk. ed.

Place of Publication:

New York : Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2001.

Summary:

This groundbreaking book is about 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 junctures 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 believed he was Japanese; the apartheid-like working conditions of Filipinos in the Alaska canneries; the boycott of Korean American greengrocers in Brooklyn; the Los Angeles riots; and the casting of non-Asians in the Broadway musical Miss Saigon. The book also examines the rampant stereotypes of Asian Americans. Helen Zia, the daughter of Chinese immigrants, was born in the 1950s when there were only 150,000 Chinese Americans in the entire country, and she writes as a personal witness to the dramatic changes involving Asian Americans. Written for both Asian Americans -- the fastest-growing population in the United States -- and non-Asians, Asian American Dreams argues that America can no longer afford to ignore these emergent, vital, and singular American people.

Contents:

Beyond our shadows. From nothing, a consciousness

Surrogate slaves to American dreamers

The awakening. Detroit blues: "Because of you motherfuckers"

To market, to market, New York style

Gangsters, gooks, geishas, and geeks

Up from innocence. Welcome to Washington

Lost and found in L.A.

For richer, for poorer

Moving the mountain. Out on the front lines

Reinventing our culture

The last bastion

Living our dreams.

Notes:

Originally published: 2000.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 321-327) and index.

ISBN:

0374527369

9780374527365

OCLC:

47005618

Publisher Number:

99993771928