Asian-American Books

This book deals with an important subject -- the interaction between a distinctive immigrant group and the surrounding community; does so in a scholarly and thorough way; and yet is a pleasure to read. I have no background in sociology but I was fascinated by this research, which is presented in an understandable and engaging way.

The only caution I'd suggest to other readers is that one should be careful about extrapolating these findings about Sikh farmers in rural California to the larger Indian-American community. The subjects described here are clearly different from many (perhaps most) other Indian-Americans -- in religion, dress, social customs, occupation, education and economic class; so different in fact that I think one should be hesitant about reaching any conclusions about the larger community just from this book. As an Indian-American who grew up and attended high school in suburban New Jersey, I can testify that my own experience was far different from the one described here.

This book deals with an important subject -- the interaction between a distinctive immigrant group and the surrounding community; does so in a scholarly and thorough way; and yet is a pleasure to read. I have no background in sociology but I was fascinated by this research, which is presented in an understandable and engaging way.

The only caution I'd suggest to other readers is that one should be careful about extrapolating these findings about Sikh farmers in rural California to the larger Indian-American community. The subjects described here are clearly different from many (perhaps most) other Indian-Americans -- in religion, dress, social customs, occupation, education and economic class; so different in fact that I think one should be hesitant about reaching any conclusions about the larger community just from this book. As an Indian-American who grew up and attended high school in suburban New Jersey, I can testify that my own experience was far different from the one described here.

This book is an excellent addition to the literature on the Vietnam war, providing us with a new perspective. It is full of novel information but still easy to read, which is quite an achievement. It is particularly interesting -- given the current political situation -- to learn how eager the British government was to support Kennedy's Vietnam policy. This is a real revelation.
The book's approach is truly international, and the research is more than impressive. Among the archives the author used are the national archive of Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the US, and of course Britain.

In this brilliantly-researched study, Peter Busch examines the Conservative government's policy towards the US war against Vietnam for the years 1961 to 1963. The author, who formerly worked at the Public Record Office at Kew, has thoroughly mined newly available records from Britain, the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Germany. He also shows how British policy towards Vietnam related to wider policy towards South-East Asia, especially towards Indonesia. In both cases, Prime Minister Harold Macmillan ruled out negotiated settlements and preferred to use force.

Busch shows how Macmillan fully backed President Kennedy's aggressive military build-up in Vietnam, `a clear breach' of the Geneva agreements, while advising him to conceal it. Macmillan pretended to be a peacemaker, while actually supporting the US war. He aimed to keep Britain's `great power' status and prove its value as a US ally.

As co-chairman of the International Control Commission set up by the 1954 Geneva Conference, the British state abused its role in order to support the illegal, dictatorial Diem regime in the south. It backed up Diem's unwarranted claims that the Democratic Republic of Vietnam was responsible, `whether there was evidence or not', for starting the civil war in the south. It used these claims to rule out the DRV's call for reconvening the Conference to negotiate the peaceful reunification of Vietnam.

Macmillan helped the US counter-insurgency effort, setting up the British Advisory Mission in 1961. British forces also trained Diem's troops in Malaysia. In 1962, the British Ambassador to Saigon urged the USA to `crush and eradicate the Viet Cong'.

The British government only dropped Diem when it discovered that his brother, Ngo Dinh Nhu, was willing to discuss peace with the DRV. It then backed the US coup against Diem that sabotaged the chances of peacefully reunifying Vietnam.

Busch concludes that the British government did not pursue peace. "Britain supported the American policy in Vietnam wholeheartedly. The British only wanted to `sell' this policy in a different, less confrontational way." Plus ca change! This superb book vindicates all those who opposed the US aggression against Vietnam.

Third Battalion, Third Marines has recently served valiantly in Afghanistan and Iraq. As always, they served their nation with honor and valor.

3/3 was the battalion of Ollie North during Vietnam. It was also my battalion. I joined 3/3 not long after it returned from Desert Storm, and I was trained, hazed, and befriended by the men described in this book. I heard many of these stories firsthand from the grunts who lived it, and I can tell you this book is not only accurate but also well written.

While this is the story of a unit in the First Gulf War, it had direct bearing on what's going on over there now. This story follows the Third Battalion of the Third Marines (The 3/3). This is one of the famous units in the USMC having fought at Bougainville, Guam, Iwo Jima, then in Vietnam and in 1990 in the Persian Gulf.

The author has a great ability to take oral histories from a wide number of people and put them together with his own commentary to form and interesting tale that flows very well while conveying the tone and material from the oral interview.

During the war the 3/3 fought in the battle of Khafji, then were the first to penetrate the Iraqi wire and minefield to provide flank security for the beginning of the allied offensive. It is a remarkable tale of the events in the war as seen be the members of one of the fighting units.

This is the story of an American nurse who chose to serve the people of Lebanon. It is a fascinating account of a young woman finding herself in a Civil War and the impact that has on her own life and those around her. Reading it I felt as if I was having a conversation with the author, it is definitely her voice, and speaks with an astonishing mixture of courage and humility.

I received a copy of this book as a birthday gift in Aug 2005. At the time I was on vacation in San Francisco, so I didn't really start reading the book until I was on an airplane flying back to Pittsburgh (through Washington DC). What happened during my flight and layover in Dulles (6-7 hours in total) was shocking to me, as I was unable to let go of this book. I was glued to it and didn't even once yawn or take a break, simply because I couldn't. I also couldn't resist crying while reading some of the most terrible and heart-breaking stories that the author witnessed during the war in Lebanon. After reading this book, my perspective about nurses and nursing in general took a 180 degree shift, as I now appreciate and respect the vital role that nurses play in our lives.
In conclusion, I can say with confidence that so far, this is the best book that I've ever read in my 26 years of existance on this planet.

This book was written by a Japanese man who lived and studied in the United states just after 1900. He stayed in various places around the country such as the state of Washington, Kalamazoo, and New York, among others. His writing was some of the first in its time to shed light on actual American life to Japanese readers, who tended to idealize America as a perfect country (the Meiji period was an era of learning from other cultures in Japan). Kafu's writing shows the darkness of early modern American racism, prostitution, and poverty, and places it in beautifully eerie settings. It is sometimes made to offend and outrage readers. I found it to be extremely interesting to see America from an immigrant's point of view in a time when so many people were flooding into the States.

I generally find Nagai Kafu's fiction pretty interesting despite my usual tastes in literature. His lifelong fascination with the seedier side of life would turn me off if he were a lesser writer, but somehow he invests all of this with a melancholy lyricism while all the same not whitewashing or trivializing his subject matter. And with this excellent series of semi-autobiographical short stories Nagai, a fledging writer no less, has already got the knack for this balancing act, only here he's not roaming Asakusa or the Tokyo brothels but rather the back allies of New York or the immigrant slums of Seattle. It is fascinating both to see Nagai treat his familiar themes in an unfamiliar setting and to see turn-of-the-(last)-century America through his keen, attentive gaze...down to the nitty-gritty details even the newer kinds of social history can't quite reconstruct. That said, he's not a one-trick pony--one story deals with a wholesome relationship between the narrator's friend and the latter's fiance and comes complete with a scathing critique of rigid Confucian social mores, while another really nice story tells the tale of a beautiful but short-lived summer romance between the narrator and a strong-willed, intelligent young lady. And many of the stories address the complexities of racial relations, the ambiguity of modernity, the significance of the arts, and other such issues from interesting and thoughtful perspectives and in a manner that seldom seems strained. Whether your interest is in modern Japanese literature or modern American cultural history, you will find this book quite worth your while. And if you just want to read some good stories by a fine writer at the start of his promising career, well, you won't go wrong with this one either.

The stories in this book let readers understand more about China, especially the horrible experiences that the Chinese had suffered during the Cultural Revolution. It's wonderful to see Chinese-American writers publishing books in English in the United States.

i like this book very much . and i read it agai

"And Then a Rainbow" is an intimate journey with a Japanese family as they made new trails from Japan through California, and then back to Japan and back to California.
The recollections of Ms. Shimonishi-Lamb are like the kitchen conversations that many third and fourth generation Japanese Americans yearn for with their own grandparents or parents. Personal family stories about internment and other wartime events are few and far between, which makes this book a treasure in Japanese American history.
The Kubota family came from Yamanashi Prefecture to San Francisco. They first settled in the Sacramento area building a successful rice company. Later, they traveled south to the hills of Palos Verdes and farmed near the Pacific Ocean. The children attended school in San Pedro, the Los Angeles Harbor District.
Mili married Toshio Shimonishi, from Hiroshima, and they lived in the Los Angeles area for a short time until the war broke out. They were interned in Cody, Wyoming, at Heart Mountain Relocation Camp. There, they grappled with issues of citizenship, loyalty, and family values. They were repatriated to Japan after the war and the author gives a unique account of an American rebuilding her family life in post-war Hiroshima.
Many years passed and her desire to return to America became a reality. And once again, she was rebuilding her life but this time, it was in Long Beach, California. Mili finally got her rainbow.
Of all the books I've read on Japanese American history, this is one of the most interesting and is one of my favorites.

It is a true story of my life during that time. It is a history that cannot be repeated. I wanted my children and friends to hear about it from me. Readers have commented that they laughed and cried while reading my book.

Great stuff. My wife collects Cinderella stories from around the world. She loved it.

Anklet For A Princess: A Cinderella Story From India is an fabulous adaptation of the East Indian story "Nagami" (Jewel of the Snake), a legend that in many ways resembles the classic fairy tale Cinderella. The young woman Cinduri is overburdened with work from her stepmother and stepsister, and receives barely enough to eat in return. But Godfather Snake learns of her troubles and helps her attend the village's annual Navaratri Festival dressed in the most beautiful golden-threaded sari and diamond anklets, and there she wins the heart of the Prince. A captivating picture book story commendably written by Lila Mehta, deftly adapted by Meredith Brucker, and wondrously illustrated in full color by Youshan Tang, Anklet For A Princess would make a welcome and popular addition to any school or community library picture book collection.

I Used This Book On History Project. It Was Great.

Of all the current history books on the Asian American experience, Roger Daniels' book "Asian America" still stands out as the most scholarly, the best thought-out and the most clearly presented. While this is not to deny the achievements of Asian American historians such as Ron Takaki (whose "Strangers From a Different Shore", and "Iron Cages" remain classics), Daniels' book presents a more systematic account of the social and historical context for the Chinese and Japanese experience in the US. He has an undoubted talent for presenting historical data with rigor, sensitivity, and skill.

I recommend this volume to all my students who are doing papers on Chinese or Japanese American topics, but it is also useful for anyone who wants to understand the development of the particular version of US race ideology during the late 19th and early-mid 20th centuries.

Highly highly recommended

I really enjoyed reading this book. Even though, I "knew" the political and societal situations of Asian Americans in the United States, it still was an eye opener. This book gave me an oppertunity to understand some of my believes and how they were formed. I think it is a must read for everyone who is from Asian decent and who would like to understand the Asian American experiences. The author did a wonderful job of integrating all aspects of Asian culture. I highly recommend this book.

Once again Professor Espiritu has written a book that not only conveys the Asian American experience but more importantly the human experience. This book is for those of us who live the Asian American experience and for those willing to educate themselves about our country's racial heirarchy compounded by the disparity between genders.