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A Different Mirror for Young People
  • Published: 15 August 2012
  • ISBN: 9781609804169
  • Imprint: Seven Stories Press
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 384
  • RRP: $49.99

A Different Mirror for Young People

A History of Multicultural America

Formats & editions
Paperback
15 Aug 2012
Hardback
5 Aug 2026
EBook
6 Mar 2018
Paperback
29 July 2026
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"A brilliant revisionist history of America that is likely to become a classic of multicultural studies," Takaki's multicultural masterwork has been adapted for young readers.

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.
  • Published: 15 August 2012
  • ISBN: 9781609804169
  • Imprint: Seven Stories Press
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 384
  • RRP: $49.99
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About the author

Ronald Takaki

RONALD TAKAKI (1939–2009) was recognized as one of the foremost scholars of American ethnic history. Born and raised in Oahu, Hawaii, the descendent of Japanese immigrant field workers, Takaki became the first member of his family to receive higher education, attending The College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio, and later receiving a doctorate in history from the University of California, Berkeley. Takaki has said that he was “born intellectually and politically” during this period in Berkeley in the 1960s. His PhD dissertation was on the subject of slavery in America, and he went on to teach the first black history course at the University of California, Los Angeles, in the aftermath of the Watts riots.  Returning to Berkeley, Takaki helped found the nation’s first ethnic studies department and rose to national prominence publishing works on the history of immigration and the understanding of ethnicity in the Americas. His 1989 title Strangers from a Different Shore: A History of Asian Americans was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Takaki died in 2009.
RT

Praise for A Different Mirror for Young People

"In our increasingly diverse society, the issues of race, ethnicity, and religion are often at the forefront of American consciousness, and always in the backs of our minds, shaping our own identity and our views of others. They reverberate in our voting booths, town hall, classrooms, and popular culture. In this timely update . . . Professor Ronald Takaki examines the challenges we face in reconciling our differences and forming a secure, sustainable future for our country." --President Bill Clinton

"Takaki's book . . . is a laudable effort--humane, well informed, accessible, and often incisive. It is clearly not intended to divide Americans but rather to teach them to value the nation's inescapable diversity." --New York Times Book Review