Recollecting Early Asian America

"The editors have assembled an engaging collection of essays which together dramatize the range and depth of 'early' Asian American history. The essays in this volume show us the extraordinary diversity and texture of Asian American culture before the demographic turn of the late 1960s. Accessible to the general reader, this new scholarship is eminently useful for the classroom."-Robert G. Lee, Associate Professor of American Civilization, Brown University, and author of Orientals: Asian Americans in Popular Culture (Temple) "[The book] presents us with exciting new scholarship on the period before 1960. Taken together, the volume's cogent introduction and twenty individually authored essays contribute to the field of Asian American studies by reaffirming the worth of studying the past, not only for what it can tell us about the present but also for its own rich, complicated, and intellectually rewarding reasons...As the essays in this volume demonstrate, [this] is worth studying. Re/Collecting Early Asian America thus represents a milestone in the development of a maturing field."-The Journal of American Ethnic History "Defining 'early' as the period beginning in the 1800s with the initial migration of Asians to the Americas and continuing until the dramatic policy changes in the mid-1960s, this collection is organized around four themes. "Locations and Relocations" examines place as constructed, with several essays taking Chinatowns, real or imagined, as their subjects. "Crossings" complicates the popular notion of migration as a movement in one direction, clearly defined in time and space. "Objects" addresses issues of racial stereotype. "Recollections" celebrates early Asian American artists while grappling with questions about what counts as art and who qualifies as Asian American."-American Literature "This well-documented compilation of 20 essays, mostly by established scholars in their respective fields, discusses the history, literature, memories, and anthropology of Asians in the Americas...The editors have done a commendable job of selecting a well-balanced, compelling, and fascinating set of essays that are informative, easy to read, and scholarly."-Library Journal "[F]ascinating...the authors manage to provide new insight that illuminates the tension between the marginalization and disenfranchisement of early Asian Americans and their efforts to challenge institutionalized racism while creating a vibrant cultural space."-Asian Affairs "This eclectic volume of quality scholarship mirrors the current state of Asian American studies, capturing dynamic and revisionist attempts to record an inclusive history that recognizes difference while exploring commonalities."-Journal of the West "...the interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary engagements it seeks to make with an 'early Asian America' offer useful correctives, insightful analysis, and food for thought, not only for Asian American studies scholars but also for scholars concerned with 'history' and the processes that connect, imagine, tell, and recollect the past to, and within, the present."-The Journal of American History