Growing Up Asian American

By Maria Hong

Book Overview

Stories of childhood, adolescence and coming of age in America, from the 1800's to the 1900's -- by 32 Asian-American writers.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0380724189
• ISBN13: 9780380724185
• Release Date: January 1995
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 0.77 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.9" x 5.3"

Customer Reviews

SILENT MINORITY

In this world of multi-culturalism one group's voice is seldom heard and their contributions to America have not been acknowledged. Growing Up Asian American by Maria Hong gives a voice to this "silent minority" whose presence on the American scene has been virtually ignored. Growing up Asian-American tells their story through a collection of fiction and non-fiction pieces. Asian-Americans represent a diverse group of people who had a great impact on American life. Frank Chin (Chinese) presents a short story about the building of the transcontinental railroad by the Chinese in the 1860's. Jeanne Wakatsuki-Houston (Japanese) reveals to us her experience of being uprooted from her home in Inglewood, CA and sent to an internment camp. Her experience reveals the racist hysteria prevelant during World War II that extended itself to Japanese-Americans. Mary Paik Lee decribes her isolation in the early part of the 20th century (1910) as being one of the few Koreans in the Asian American community. This is an excellent text for those who are not familiar with Asian-American culture. It introduces us to those hidden facts of history about a people who have been ignored. The only criticism that can be said of the text is that it doesn't include anyone from Viet Nam, the Phillippines or Pacific Islanders depending on how one defines Asian. I highly recommend this book as an introductory text for learning about Asian-American culture in general and writers in particular.