Asian-American Books

Cancer Kids Can Too! specializes in FUN books for kids with cancer. They are a Non Profit group and use the funds from sales to distribute their books to Children's Libraries, Children's Hospitals, Ronald McDonald Houses, Cancer Camps, ETC...

These books are full of wonderful illustrations. A great escapism for children with cancer. It focuses on CancerKid and his tenacity to prove he can do anything anyone else can do. Join CancerKid as he shows what he can do. (Astronaut to pirate to soccer player to president). The only thing holding this determined kid back is his imagination, not his illness.

Provides a respite for the daily toils of living with cancer.

Join the adventure by drawing your favorites too! Provides several pages for the child reading the book to interact with CancerKid as he takes them on his journey of I CAN TOO!

I was driven to read this book by the author's appearance on Turner Classic Movies' month-long "Asian Images in Film: Race & Hollywood" (June 2008). When Mr. Feng was asked to comment on or introduce each film he selected, I felt he wanted to say more, but was tempered by the constraints of mainstream programming demographics. So I feverishly acquired this book and, I'm happy to say, it does not disappoint.

Any Asian American who has ever watched the sparse appearances of their "representation" on the American screen, and was confounded - time and again- by the misrepresentation, will find a clear and cogent analysis to their situation in Identities In Motion. I found myself often nodding in agreement throughout the book, as the author articulated the problems inherent in films about and by Asian Americans.

Feng argues that one shouldn't look to Asian American movies as historical truth or depictions of fixed identities. Instead, he inspects Homi Bhaba's term "splitting" to separate the repetition of colonial discourse from the resistance to that discourse. Viewed under these conditions, Asian American movies may be read as one would read literary criticism, as opposed to literature. For example, he mentions that certain "historical" Asian American movies reveal more about the politics involving Asian Americans (at the time the movie was made), than "the historical periods they purport to represent." It's a tough task to break free of that discourse; some Asian American movies fare better than others in resistance, thereby escaping the trap.

A range of movies from what may be perceived as biographical videos (aka Don Bonus, China: Land of My Father, Made In China, The Way to My Father's Village, From Hollywood to Hanoi) to feature films about immigrant lives (Thousand Pieces of Gold, Picture Bride), the Japanese Internment (History and Memory, A Family Gathering), commercial films (Wedding Banquet, Joy Luck Club), and the well-crafted, successfully metadiscursive films (Chan is Missing, Surname Vien Given Name Nam) are interrogated.

The book is written in an academic tone, with wording that sometimes seems densely packed. Don't let it intimidate you; Identities In Motion is a rewarding read. Even if one manages to absorb a small percentage of Peter Feng's observations (many of which also come in easy-to-digest sentences), his or her perception of the Asian American landscape (and an awareness of why and how you arrived at the identity of "other" if you are an Asian American) will be vastly altered. When the author quotes Charlie Chan "perfect crime like perfect doughnut - always has a hole," we can apply it to the mission of this book.

If cinematic representation is seen as that crime, then Identities In Motion shows you how to find the hole.

This insightful book features a central element of Eliade's work as a whole: a humanistic impulse which envisions the study of symbols as the best possible way to overcome close-mindedness and provincialism, and which holds that a liberation from the traps of historicism is necessary in order to reach the archetypes that somehow inform the multiple 'symbolic incarnations' throughout the ages and peoples. Eliade here considers symbols of centre, time, binding (relying a lot on Dumezil on that topic), waters and shells. The relationship between symbol and history is constantly examined in the book: Eliade suggests that each new meaning ascribed by history to a symbol does not alter the latter's fundamental structure, since the symbol can properly be considered 'transhistorical'. This is as good a work as any to start reading Eliade; many quintessential Eliadian themes are treated here.

Joseph Legaspi is a brilliant poet already well known within New York City's poetry networks. With Imago, the mainstream finally has an opportunity to also view his haunting, deliriously beautiful words. Though seemingly impossible, Legaspi's work manages to create belonging from dispossession, without ever succumbing to clichéd or naïve statements about of life. With eyes that are compassionate and unconditionally loving, Legaspi creates beauty while showing the volatile, often painful, interplay of our everyday emotions and experiences. Legaspi finds the magic of life wherever he looks. His poetry is a true gift.

I think that the author has really brought out the feeling of asian american literatures through his words. He shows much understanding of the subject and works well on describing it all. Very detailed and well thought out. His writing shows both sides of the writing including the good and the bad. Overall,this is an excellent book with much wisdom and knowledge.

This book provides a comprehensive insight of East Indians immigration to the United States from 1790 to 1989. The authors discussed the historical, economic and social factors that influence the emigration of East Indians from India and migration to the United States. Outlines the Indian community's struggle for acceptance and opportunities, the secret of their success as a model minority community and the need to retain their culture and tradition.

IMMIGRATION AT THE GOLDEN GATE: PASSENGER SHIPS, EXCLUSION, AND ANGEL ISLAND draws intriguing contrasts between the immigration gateways of Angel Island on the West Coast and Ellis Island on the East, exploring differences between the two entry points, considering their different roles, and providing a history of the Angel Island Immigrant Station which operated from 1910-1940, when public hostility to newcomers posed a threat to the new California immigrants. Any college-level collection strong on either general American immigrant experience or California history in particular must have this.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

This book unlocked hidden truths and falsehoods for me and broadened my knowledge of the Vietnamese policy concerning the American M.I.As. It was widely thought-provoking and educational. Anyone interested in the aftermath of the war will be glad they choose to read this book. It helps to illustrate the relationship between these two countries and the growth both have endured since that catastrophic era.

Jere went into Afghanistan in the early 80's when the country was off everybodie's geo-political radar screen. He felt compelled to go and learn what was happening in that war torn land for his own reasons, first personal then professional. Afghanistan has endured many wars, and it's people have always fought, suffered and watched the conquerers of their land bleed into the same earth as their ancestors. But Afghanistan has never been conquered. Jere's book on life inside Afghanistan's borders is rare, his interaction with the people he encounters enlightening. He was an American that came there to learn, not control or change the people nor use it's land for profit. This tale is a true adventure, I recomend his book highly.

America is in the heart is an excellent book talking about a man's struggle to survive in his native islands and be accepted into the harsh society of America. This book truely shows the trials and hardships an immigrant goes through and I reccomend id to those who struggled as a child and struggled to be accepted into American society. This book makes us aware of the harsh realities of the way people were treated early this century. Famaly tradegies and struggles.