Asian History: Books

Since the first three documented Chinese arrived in this country in 1848, more than six million Asians have followed. The huge immigrations of recent years have prompted a surge of interest in the new Asian American experience. In Asian Americans, these immigrants and their families present their own stories--why they came to America and what it means to be Asian in America today.

This collection of key documents presents the rich Asian American heritage through primary sources -- speeches, diary entries, editorials, advertisements, court opinions, legislation, songs, and poems -- along with expert, concise editorial commentary. The Columbia Documentary History of the Asian American Experience presents the fullest picture to date of the historical fortunes and lasting influences of Asian peoples in America.

This encyclopedia provides a record of the history, geography, politics, culture and peoples of Asia. The 3000 signed articles include 1200 biographies.

In an extraordinary blend of eloquent narrative history, vivid personal recollection, and oral testimony, Ronald Takaki relates the diverse 150-year history of Asian Americans. Through richly detailed vignettes--by turns bitter, funny, and inspiring--he offers a stunning panorama of a neglected part of American history. 16 pages of photographs.

Offers a detailed and lucid overview of the diversity of cultures of South, East, and Southeast Asia, combining knowledge from fields including anthropology, history, linguistics, religious studies, and art history to pull together major cultural strands by which people in Asian societies have organized their lives. Early chapters examine land and livelihood, language, and ethnic diversity. Later chapters cover India, Southeast Asia, China, and Japan, and the colonial period. Of special note is a chapter on tribal peoples, offering a profile of a contemporary tribal group of Thailand. The author is affiliated with California State University-Chico. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Finding Wisdom in East Asian Classics is an essential, all-access guide to the core texts of East Asian civilization and culture. Essays address frequently read, foundational texts in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese, as well as early modern fictional classics and nonfiction works of the seventeenth century. Building strong links between these writings and the critical traditions of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism, this volume shows the vital role of the classics in the shaping of Asian history and in the development of the humanities at large. Recognized as perennial reflections on life and society, these works represent diverse historical periods and cultures.

The contrast in the rate of growth between Western and Eastern societies since 1800 has caused Asian societies to be characterized as backward and resistant to change, though until 1600 or so certain Asian states were technologically far in advance of Europe. The Rice Economies, drawing on original source materials, examines patterns of technological and social evolution specific to East-Asian wet-rice economies in order to clarfiy some general historical trends in economic development.