In an extraordinary blend of narrative history, personal recollection, & oral testimony, the author presents a sweeping history of Asian Americans. He writes of the Chinese who laid tracks for the transcontinental railroad, of plantation laborers in the canefields of Hawaii, of "picture brides" marrying strangers in the hope of becoming part of the American dream. He tells stories of Japanese Americans behind the barbed wire of U.S. internment camps during World War II, Hmong refugees tragically unable to adjust to Wisconsin's alien climate & culture, & Asian American students stigmatized by the stereotype of the "model minority." This is a powerful & moving work that will resonate for all Americans, who together make up a nation of immigrants from other shores.
A longtime professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of California at Berkeley, Ronald Takaki was recognized as one of the foremost scholars of American ethnic history and diversity. When the first edition of A Different Mirror was published in 1993, Publishers Weekly called it "a brilliant revisionist history of America that is likely to become a classic of multicultural studies" and named it one of the ten best books of the year. Now Rebecca Stefoff, who adapted Howard Zinn's best-selling A People's History of the United States for younger readers, turns the updated 2008 edition of Takaki's multicultural masterwork into A Different Mirror for Young People. Drawing on Takaki's vast array of primary sources, and staying true to his own words whenever possible, A Different Mirror for Young People brings ethnic history alive through the words of people, including teenagers, who recorded their experiences in letters, diaries, and poems. Like Zinn's A People's History, Takaki's A Different Mirror offers a rich and rewarding "people's view" perspective on the American story.
From a Navajo code talker to a Tuskegee pilot, Takaki examines the many contributions and sacrifices of America's minorities--blacks, Chinese, Native Americans and others--during World War II. Photos.
Takaki traces the economic and political history of Indians, African Americans, Mexicans, Japanese, Chinese, Irish, and Jewish people in America, with considerable attention given to instances and consequences of racism. The narrative is laced with short quotations, cameos of personal experiences, and excerpts from folk music and literature. Well-known occurrences, such as the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, the Trail of Tears, the Harlem Renaissance, and the Japanese internment are included. Students may be surprised by some of the revelations, but will recognize a constant thread of rampant racism. The author concludes with a summary of today's changing economic climate and offers Rodney King's challenge to all of us to try to get along. Readers will find this overview to be an accessible, cogent jumping-off place for American history and political science plus a guide to the myriad other sources identified in the notes.
Iron Cages provides a unique comparative analysis of white attitudes toward Asians, Blacks, Mexicans, and Native Americans in the nineteenth century, offering a cohesive study of the foundations of race and culture in America. In his provocative new epilogue, 'The Fourth Iron Cage, ' Takaki focuses on race in contemporary society within the context of America's nuclear arms-oriented economy. He compares the Asian-American 'model minority' and black underclass, and extends his analysis to Native Americans, Chicanos, and Puerto Ricans. Incisive and up-to-date, Iron Cages is an essential resource for students of ethnic history, and important reading for anyone interested in the history of race relations in America.
Including individuals from the first wave of immigrants in the 1840s, the author tells the story of some of the Asian-Americans who came to this country and the obstacles they faced here
A scholarly work but as readable as a novel, this is the first history of plantation life as experienced by the laborers themselves. The oppressive round-the-clock conditions under which they worked will make you glad they fought back in one huge strike; Takaki charts this conflict well." --San Francisco Chronicle
A history of America in World War II is told through the lives of an ethnically diverse group of ordinary Americans struggling for equality at home and fighting for freedom overseas. Takaki's revealing book shows that there were more struggles--and more victories--during WWII than most people ever imagined. 37 photos.
A sweeping yet intimate history of the diverse individuals who, together, make up America. Ronald Takaki uses letters, diaries & oral histories to share their stories. Workers, immigrants, shopkeepers, women, children & others, their lives often separated by ethnic borders, speak side by side as Takaki frames their voices with his own text.
This edition includes a new preface which examines the 1992 South Central Los Angeles racial explosion in relationship to Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and the 1965 Watts Riot, and helps us understand the history of racism in America and its legacy of antagonism and violence.
The bombing of Hiroshima was one of the pivotal events of the twentieth century, yet this controversial question remains unresolved. At the time, General Dwight Eisenhower, General Douglas MacArthur, and chief of staff Admiral William Leahy all agreed that an atomic attack on Japanese cities was unnecessary. All of them believed that Japan had already been beaten and that the war would soon end. Was the bomb dropped to end the war more quickly? Or did it herald the start of the Cold War? In his probing new study, prizewinning historian Ronald Takaki explores these factors and more. He considers the cultural context of race - the ways in which stereotypes of the Japanese influenced public opinion and policymakers - and also probes the human dimension. Relying on top secret military reports, diaries, and personal letters, Takaki relates international policies to the individuals involved: Los Alamos director J. Robert Oppenheimer, Secretary of State James Byrnes, Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, and others... but above all, Harry Truman.
Focusing on a variety of groups-Jews, Chinese, Japanese, Africans, Irish, Mexicans, Afghans, Vietnamese, and more-this volume tells America's story through the millions of people who came here seeking the opportunity.
Focusing on a variety of groups-Jews, Chinese, Japanese, Africans, Irish, Mexicans, Afghans, Vietnamese, and more-this volume tells America's story through the millions of people who came here seeking the opportunity.
Witnesses: David E. Adelman, staff attorney, Nuclear Program, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC); Carl Paperiello, Deputy Exec. Dir. for Materials, Research and State Programs, Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC); Max Scott, professor, Louisiana State Univ.; Michael Shapiro, Deputy Assistant Administrator, Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); Scott Slesinger, v.p., Governmental Affairs, Environmental Technology Council; Anthony J. Thompson, attorney, Uranium Recovery Industry; and Joseph W. Westphal, Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works), Dept. of the Army.
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