Asian Americans: An Interpretive History

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Traces the history of Asian immigration from the California gold rush to Vietnamese boat people, describes patterns of work, social adaptation, and family formation, and explains how they coped with discrimination

242 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1,1991

About the author

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Sucheng Chan is a Chinese-American historian, scholar, and author, recognized for her contributions to Asian American Studies. She was the first to establish a full-fledged autonomous Department of Asian American Studies at a major U.S. research university and became the first Asian American woman to hold the title of provost in the University of California system.
Born in Shanghai in 1941, Chan and her family moved to Hong Kong in 1949, Malaysia in 1950, and later to the United States in 1957. She earned a BA in Economics from Swarthmore College (1963), an MA in Asian Studies from the University of Hawaiʻi (1965), and a PhD in Political Science from UC Berkeley (1973).
Chan taught at several UC campuses, including Berkeley, Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, and San Diego. She retired due to post-polio syndrome but continued to contribute to the field, donating her extensive collection of research materials to academic institutions. She has authored and edited numerous books on Asian American history, immigration, and race relations, including This Bittersweet Soil: The Chinese in California Agriculture, 1860–1910 (1986) and Entry Denied: Exclusion and the Chinese Community in America, 1882–1943 (1991).
Throughout her career, Chan received numerous accolades, including the Guggenheim Fellowship (1988), multiple Outstanding Book Awards from the Association for Asian American Studies, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the same organization in 1997. She is married to Mark Juergensmeyer, a scholar of religion and global studies.

Community Reviews

Rating(3.4 / 5.0, 8 votes)
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8 reviews All reviews
April 17,2025
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At the time this scholarly work was published, it provided persuasive proof that Asian students were often overlooked when their vocabulary and other verbal skills were not up to par, because they tended to cooperate with teachers. If the squeaky wheel gets the grease, then Asian students were seldom going to get their needs met.

Not intended for popular reading purposes, this book is carefully constructed and documented, not a single leak in the boat. And today, it lacks only one thing that is badly needed: updating.

One passage that I highlighted back when I was working on my thesis states that Asians are most likely the demographic that is increasing at the highest rate. When this was published in the 1990's, I think that statement was true. It isn't now, though. Things change, and they change fast. Almost twenty years have passed since it hit the shelves, and it is no longer a reliable source of contemporary information.

Chen's scholarship is unquestionably strong, and information gleaned that it specific to a particular point in history will still be worthwhile to the researcher. Nicely done.

April 17,2025
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the writing gets dry at times like a history book, but it's an academic book so what do you expect. very informative and well-written; read for intro to asian american history class.
April 17,2025
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Probably the single most referenced Asian American history book I've ever seen; this book is probably the gold standard. It has an extremely useful timeline at the end that I've used multiple times in classes. Sadly though, I can't remember too much of the specifics because I tend to be bad at recalling exact dates.

April 17,2025
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E184 O6 C47 1991
College Library & Historical Society Library
April 17,2025
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Read this in my Asian American Studies class. Asians have been in America since the 1800s but are really not mentioned in history. This leads to a unique set of problems. A worthy read for those trying to understand the quilt of America.
April 17,2025
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Fantastic! I think I will also be using this for my speciality exams, not just quals.
April 17,2025
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I said Takaki's "Stranger's From A Different Shore" was THE book to read on Asian American history. This one goes hand in hand with Takaki's book. A great read.
April 17,2025
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This is a very interesting account of the history of Asian immigrants in America. I greatly enjoyed learning more, but the writing style is much like a history textbook, so it did get kinda boring at times.
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