A New History of Asian America

The second edition of A New History of Asian America offers an expansive, updated synthesis of the Asian American experience, making it essential reading for those seeking a nuanced understanding of Asian America's role in shaping contemporary society. Covering Asian American history from early Orientalist conceptions preceding the United States' founding to the racial reckonings of the 2020s, this work integrates cutting-edge research with enduring historical narratives. Groundbreaking in its approach, the book addresses urgent contemporary issues such as neoliberal multiculturalism, intensified immigration enforcement, and anti-Asian violence, alongside deepened analysis of class, gender, and transnational dynamics. Prominent case studies include post-9/11 racial profiling of Arabs and South Asians, activism during the George Floyd protests, and anti-Asian violence linked to COVID-19 rhetoric. This edition has been thoroughly revised, incorporating significant developments and scholarly innovations of the last decade while reframing familiar histories to yield fresh insights into structural violence and diasporic agency. The book remains committed to a central claim: that Asian American history is fundamental to understanding broader American histories of race, power, and resistance. Accessible yet rigorous, this book is a vital resource for students, scholars, librarians, booksellers, and general readers alike.

Shelley Sang-Hee Lee is the W. Duncan MacMillan II Professor of American Studies, History, and Humanities at Brown University, USA. Her books include Koreatown, Los Angeles: Race, Immigration, and the American Dream (2022), and her current projects focus on bureaucracy and undocumented immigration in America during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

Introduction 1. Orientalism Before Asian America 2. Asian Diasporas and an Emerging Nation 3. Working Lives and the World of Work 4. Communities, Ethnic Solidarity, and Social Intimacy in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries 5. Racism and Resistance: From Chinese Exclusion to Tydings-McDuffie 6. Modernity and New Generations Through the 1930s 7. War, Disruption and Realignment, 1941-1952 8. Cold War, Civil Rights, and Asian America Remade 9. Insurgency and Change: Asian American Activism in the 1960s and 1970s 10. Globalization, Neoliberalism, and a New Asian America 11. Recalibrations and Reckonings: Identity and Its Discontents in the Multicultural Era 12. Security, Securitization, and Borders After 9/11 13. Asian America From the Age of Obama to the Election of Trump 14. Crisis, Visibility, and the Struggle for Meaning: The 2020s Epilogue: History Still Matters