Chinese on the American Frontier (Pacific Formations: Global Relations in Asian and Pacific Perspectives) - Softcover

Dirlik Author Of Marxism In The Chinese Revolution, Arif; Yeung, Malcolm

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0847685330 ISBN 13: 9780847685332

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2003

Synopsis

Chinese immigrants played a dynamic role in frontier America, yet scholars of Asian America have focused for the most part only on the Pacific Coast, especially California. This reader fills that gap by collecting memoirs, documents, and historical analyses from the other Western statesfrom the Cascades to the Great Plainsto provide a comprehensive overview of the Chinese in nineteenthcentury America.

About this title

About the Author

Arif Dirlik is professor of history at University of Oregon.

Malcolm Yeung graduated in 1997 with a Master's degree in history from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

From Library Journal

Dirlik (history, Duke Univ.), editor of the "Pacific Formations" series, specializes in two subjects eurocentrism and anarchy in the Chinese revolution (1905-30). In his commitment to educating a general audience about the Chinese struggles in America, he joined with graduate student Yeung to edit this collection of articles dealing with the underresearched topic of the Chinese presence in the American West. While the articles vary in quality the best being a chapter on the pioneer Chinese of Utah and the worst being a chapter on Polly Beemis the contributors provide interesting information on how Chinese people lived in the Southwest, Northwest, and Rocky Mountain states during the late 1800s, when anti-Chinese sentiment was at its peak. Major themes include racial hostility and violence, Chinese resistance to discrimination, life in Chinatowns (e.g., Chinese festivities and food, the absence of women, gambling, opium use, and prostitution), and labor issues and public attitudes. These themes are remarkably similar to those in other texts on Chinese American history that draw from Chinese experiences primarily in California and New York, e.g., Roger Daniels's Asian America (1990), Lucy E. Salyer's Laws as Harsh as Tigers (Univ. of North Carolina, 1995), and Claiming America (Temple Univ., 1998), edited by Kevin Scott Wong. While expensive, this text is a useful addition to libraries that specialize in Chinese American studies. Peggy Spitzer Christoff, Rockville, MD
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0847685330
• ISBN 13: 9780847685332
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 544