In a blend of narrative history, personal recollection, and oral
testimony, Ronald Takaki 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 and culture,
and Asian-American students stigmatized by the stereotype of the "model
minority." This powerful and moving work, now updated with a new preface
and new closing chapter, has resonance for all Americans, who together
make up a nation of immigrants from other shores.