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.