Asian American Dreams:
The Emergence of an American People
Booklist
(March 1, 2000; 0-374-14774-4)
Frustrated by the relative invisibility of Asians in U.S. history and culture, Zia, the daughter of Chinese immigrants, details the diverse cultural backgrounds of Asians in America. She notes the historical cycles that have seen Americans alternately embracing and repudiating Asians. Zia recounts the immigration of her own parents, their marriage, and their attempts to make themselves into Americans, efforts that were complicated when Zia came of age during the social and racial upheaval of the 1960s. She also recounts the dubious U.S. history of race relations regarding Asians, regrouping favored and disfavored nationalities, temporarily reclassifying favored groups as whites. She examines the internment of the Japanese during World War II, exploitation of Chinese workers in the West and the South, and the racial animus aimed at Vietnamese relocated in the U.S. after the war. Zia sees the convergence of growth in Asian populations, the diversity of that population, and an incipient Asian American movement that may initiate increased political power and social influence in the U.S. --Vanessa Bush
"An important book because it seeks to answer a question that few other popular works pose: What does it take for people like the author to become fully American?" -- Somini Sengupta, The New York Times Book Review.
"An inspiring story of the struggles of Zia & diverse Asian Americans to transform themselves from "aliens" into Americans, their fervent & hopeful "dreams" of equality unfurled before the winds of the coming multicultural millenium." -- Ronald Takaki, author of Strangers from a Different Shore.
Helen Zia, a graduate of Princeton University's first co-educational class, is an award-winning journalist who has covered Asian American communities & political movements for twenty years. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.