Description
Book SynopsisUses the experiences of Asian Americans to reconfigure the ways in which American history can be understood. This book examines a set of binaries - East and West, black and white, man and woman - that have structured the telling of our nation's history and shaped our ideas of citizenship since the late nineteenth century.
Trade Review"[Common Ground] should take its place ... as a standard reference. Deftly referencing The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chicago's 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, Madame Butterfly (Puccini's opera and the modern play,) his own childhood experiences ... and other richly varied illustrations, Okihiro offers important insights... A must read."--Choice "Okihiro is a masterly stylist, able to interweave theoretical insight and historical argument in language that is at once sophisticated and colloquial. Individually these essays are fully complete, but read consecutively they assume an added resonance and depth. In this regard, Common Ground is in a class all its own."--Louise M. Newman, Journal of American History
Table of ContentsLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ix PREFACE xi CHAPTER 1 West and East 3 CHAPTER 2 White and Black 28 CHAPTER 3 Man and Woman 55 CHAPTER 4 Heterosexual and Homosexual 87 CHAPTER 5 American History 114 NOTES 139 INDEX 153
