Asian Americans in the Twenty-First Century: Oral Histories of First- to Fourth- Generation Americans from China, Japan, India, Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Laos by Joann Faung Jean Lee

The collective term “Asian American” comprises more than twenty distinct nationalities and ethnic groups, and today there are more than 12 million Asian Pacific Americans living in the United States. In this all-new collection of fascinating interviews with students, lawyers, engineers, politicians, stay-at-home moms, and activists, Joann Faung Jean Lee again draws upon her great skill and sensitivity as a journalist to reveal a rich mosaic of Asian American identities. We hear a range of voices: Dale Minami recounts his historic involvement in a landmark legal case that changed the way America understands the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II; Ruby Chow remembers how she used her position as a beloved restaurateur to launch a successful campaign for county councilwoman in Seattle, Washington; and Daniel Jung speaks of the complexities of African American and Korean relations in Los Angeles, where his father owned a liquor store when Daniel was a teenager in the 1990s.Candid and compelling, the interviews reveal intimate and often conflicting thoughts about Asian American identities, immigration, family, relationships, and educational and professional achievement.
From Publishers Weekly Professor, journalist and educator Lee revisits the format of her 20-year-old oral history collection, Asian Americans, to bring 27 perspectives on the current state of the Asian American experience, "distinct in many ways from that of Asians living either in Asia or as immigrants encountering diaspora elsewhere in the world." Several profiles stand out: Ruby Chow, the first Asian American elected to Washington State's King County Council, pops with personality, and her story includes a close relationship with future movie star Bruce Lee. Also interesting are the stories of musicians like ukulele player Jake Shimabukuro and "Japanese Cowboy" Hank Sasaki. Perhaps the most relevant and compelling subject is Gita Deane, a lesbian struggling to stay in America with her partner of 20 years and their two children. As suggested in the subtitle, Lee has cast a wide net and her book suffers from overcrowding, and a subsequent shortage of compelling material, but for those interested in the current moment of everyday Asian Americans, these voices will illuminate. From Booklist Published more than a decade after Lee’s Asian Americans (1992), this riveting collection of 27 new interviews shows some surprising changes across generations, especially in the wake of 9/11 (could internment happen again?) and the effects of the Internet explosion. Both in those born here and in recent immigrants, the core issues are still strong: “you don’t know how much to give up and how much to keep,” says a first-generation Hmong. A Korean dad thinks he knows more, “but he doesn’t,” say his children educated here. But then there is the woman who wore jeans when she first came here as a kid from India but now wears South Asian clothes. Many still send money home, but, for some, life in modern China may be better than here. No rambling oral history, the personal voices are lively, detailed, tightly edited. With the raging debate about immigration, they talk about contemporary mainstream issues, too, including women’s rights, gay marriage, interracial adoption, and, always, the conflicts about assimilation and the meaning of cultural identity. --Hazel Rochman

About the Author
Joann Faung Jean Lee is the author of the oral histories Asian Americans and Asian Americans in the Twenty-first Century, both published by The New Press, and of Asian American Actors: Oral Histories from Stage, Screen, and Television. She currently teaches at William Paterson University and previously taught at Queens College, CUNY, and at the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University. Lee was formerly a broadcast journalist for CNN. She lives in Northvale, New Jersey.

Hardcover: 277 pages
Publisher: The New Press (September 9, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 159558152-9
ISBN-13: 978-15-9-558152-5
Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 1 x 8.8 inches
Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces