New Books Network

New Books in Asian American Studies
Long T. Bui, “Returns of War: South Vietnam and the Price of Refugee Memory” (NYU Press, 2018)
Long T. Bui
Returns of War
South Vietnam and the Price of Refugee Memory
New York University Press, 2018

New Books in American StudiesNew Books in AnthropologyNew Books in Asian American StudiesNew Books in Peoples & PlacesNew Books in Politics & SocietyNew Books in SociologyNew Books in Southeast Asian Studies June 7, 2019 Laura Ha Reizman

In Returns of War: South Vietnam and the Price of Refugee Memory (New York University Press, 2018), Long T. Bui examines the complicated relationship between the Vietnamese diasporic community and its home country, the former South Vietnam. Central to Bui’s argument is his use of Richard Nixon’s definition of Vietnamization... Read More
Manu Karuka, “Empire’s Tracks: Indigenous Nations, Chinese Workers, and the Transcontinental Railroad” (U California Press, 2019)
Manu Karuka
Empire’s Tracks
Indigenous Nations, Chinese Workers, and the Transcontinental Railroad
University of California Press, 2019

New Books in American StudiesNew Books in Asian American StudiesNew Books in Critical TheoryNew Books in HistoryNew Books in Native American StudiesNew Books in Peoples & PlacesNew Books in Politics & SocietyNew Books Network June 5, 2019 Ian Shin

What does anti-imperialism look like from the vantage point of North America? In Empire’s Tracks: Indigenous Nations, Chinese Workers, and the Transcontinental Railroad (University of California Press, 2019), Manu Karuka (Barnard College) answers this question by reinterpreting the significance of the transcontinental railroad from the perspectives of Chinese workers and... Read More
Sally Wen Mao, “Oculus” (Graywolf Press, 2019)
Sally Wen Mao
Oculus

Graywolf Press, 2019

New Books in Arts & LettersNew Books in Asian American StudiesNew Books in LiteratureNew Books in PoetryNew Books Network May 22, 2019 Andrea Blythe

In Oculus (Graywolf Press, 2019), Sally Wen Mao explores exile not just as a matter of distance and displacement, but as a migration through time and a reckoning with technology. The title poem follows a girl in Shanghai who uploaded her suicide onto Instagram. Other poems cross into animated worlds,... Read More
Anne A. Cheng, “Ornamentalism” (Oxford UP, 2019)
Anne A. Cheng
Ornamentalism

Oxford University Press, 2019

New Books in American StudiesNew Books in Asian American StudiesNew Books in Critical TheoryNew Books in East Asian StudiesNew Books in Gender StudiesNew Books in Peoples & PlacesNew Books in Politics & SocietyNew Books Network May 22, 2019 Sitara Thobani

In her original and thought-provoking book Ornamentalism (Oxford University Press, 2019), Anne A. Cheng illustrates the longstanding relationship between the ‘oriental’ and the ‘ornamental’. So doing, she moves beyond a simple analysis of objectification to reveal the powerful role Ornamentalism plays in constituting modern ideas of personhood, racialized femininity and... Read More
Sarah Miller-Davenport, “Gateway State: Hawai’i and the Cultural Transformation of American Empire” (Princeton UP, 2019)
Sarah Miller-Davenport
Gateway State
Hawai’i and the Cultural Transformation of American Empire
Princeton University Press, 2019

New Books in American StudiesNew Books in Asian American StudiesNew Books in HistoryNew Books in Native American StudiesNew Books in Peoples & PlacesNew Books in Politics & SocietyNew Books in World AffairsNew Books Network May 21, 2019 Zeb Larson

One of my talking points when hanging out with my fellow diplomatic historians is the painful absence of scholarship on Hawaii. Too many political histories treat Hawaii’s statehood as a kind of historical inevitability, an event that was bound to pass the moment the kingdom was annexed. As I would... Read More
Ali Michael, “Raising Race Questions: Whiteness and Inquiry in Education” (Teachers College Press, 2015)
Ali Michael
Raising Race Questions
Whiteness and Inquiry in Education
Teachers College Press, 2015

New Books in African American StudiesNew Books in American StudiesNew Books in Asian American StudiesNew Books in EducationNew Books in Latino StudiesNew Books in Peoples & PlacesNew Books in Politics & SocietyNew Books Network May 13, 2019 Pengfei Zhao

In this episode, I talked with Ali Michael on her award-winning book, Raising Race Questions: Whiteness and Inquiry in Education (Teachers College Press, 2015). According to a 2014 report by the National Center for Education Statistics, white teachers comprise over 85% of the K-12 teaching force in the United States, whereas... Read More
Nancy Yunhwa Rao, “Chinatown Opera Theater in North America” (U Illinois Press, 2017)
Nancy Yunhwa Rao
Chinatown Opera Theater in North America

University of Illinois Press, 2017

New Books in American StudiesNew Books in Arts & LettersNew Books in Asian American StudiesNew Books in East Asian StudiesNew Books in HistoryNew Books in MusicNew Books in Peoples & PlacesNew Books in Politics & SocietyNew Books Network April 3, 2019 Kristen M. Turner

The story of popular entertainment in American immigrant communities is only just beginning to be told. Chinatown Opera Theater in North America by Nancy Yunhwa Rao from University of Illinois Press (2017) addresses the history of Cantonese Opera performed in Chinatowns in cities across North America with a primary focus... Read More