Asian American Histories of the United States

“Today’s rise in anti-Asian hate demands a new sort of Asian American history. Choy meets this urgent need with a powerful and effective nonlinear account of how we came to the present moment.” —Beth Lew-Williams, author of The Chinese Must Go: Violence, Exclusion, and the Making of the Alien in America “With unflinching insight and grace, Professor Choy offers an evocative meditation on the histories of Asian Americans, histories that powerfully connect our past with our present. A stunning, timely work that deepens our understanding of race in the United States.” —Vicki L. Ruiz, Distinguished Professor Emerita, University of California, Irvine “Systematically and unapologetically, this country has attempted to erase Asian Americans from the American story. Catherine Ceniza Choy has an urgent reminder: the America of today would not exist without Asian Americans. She reminds us, too, that anti-Asian hate is hardly a new phenomenon—in fact, it has been central in the creation of this country for well over a century. Still, Choy channels hope but underscores that there is no moving forward without reckoning with the sins of our past. I promise you, this is unlike any history you’ll ever read—a book only Catherine Ceniza Choy could have written.” —Anthony Christian Ocampo, author of The Latinos of Asia: How Filipino Americans Break the Rules of Race “Accessibly written for a wide readership, Asian American Histories of the United States is a comprehensive, informative, and insightful work. Featuring multiple origins and trajectories of Asian American history, it offers important, new perspectives on Asian American rich and textured lives.” —Yén Lê Espiritu, Distinguished Professor, Department of Ethnic Studies, University of California, San Diego “Exquisitely geared to meet the urgent demands of our time, Catherine Ceniza Choy’s highly readable Asian American Histories of the United States addresses it all: viruses and discrimination, healthcare and food culture, its vast workforce and their manifold contributions, proving time and again just how crucial Asian Americans are to the history of the United States.” —Franklin S. Odo, John Woodruff Simpson Lecturer of American Studies, Amherst College “Catherine Ceniza Choy is one of the most gifted public intellectuals that the Asian American community has produced. As Filipino American writer Carlos Bulosan did during the Great Depression, Choy bears witness to recent years of great anti-Asian hatred. Asian American Histories of the United States inspires us to link personal biographies with global histories, and tragic pasts with hope-filled futures.” —Theodore S. Gonzalves, twenty-first president of the Association for Asian American Studies