CRRL Picks: Nonfiction for Asian American & Pacific Islander MonthLike this list

25 items

• Aloha Rodeo

  Three Hawaiian Cowboys, the World's Greatest Rodeo, and a Hidden History of the American West

  Wolman, David (Journalist)

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  The triumphant true story of the native Hawaiian cowboys who crossed the Pacific to shock America at the 1908 world rodeo championships

• Asian American Histories of the United States

  Choy, Catherine Ceniza, 1969-

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  Asian American Histories of the United States illuminates how an over-century-long history of Asian migration, labor, and community formation in the United States is fundamental to understanding the American experience and its existential crises of…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Asian American History

  a Very Short Introduction

  Hsu, Madeline Yuan-yin

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  A 2012 survey by the Pew Research Center reported that Asian Americans are the best-educated, highest-income, and best-assimilated racial group in the United States. Before reaching this level of economic success and social assimilation, however,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Barbie Chang

  Chang, Victoria, 1970-

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  Victoria Chang explores racial prejudice, sexual privilege, and the disillusionment of love through a reimagining of Barbie―perfect in the cultural imagination yet repeatedly falling short as she pursues the American dream. This energetic string of…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Be the Refuge

  Raising the Voices of Asian American Buddhists

  Han, Chenxing, 1986-

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  Championing nuanced representation over stale stereotypes, Han and the 89 interviewees in Be the Refuge push back against false narratives like the Oriental monk, the superstitious immigrant, and the banana Buddhist--typecasting that collapses the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Big Little Man

  in Search of My Asian Self

  Tizon, Alex

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  Shame, Alex Tizon tells us, is universal—his own happened to be about race. To counteract the steady diet of American television and movies that taught Tizon to be ashamed of his face, his skin color, his height, he turned outward. (“I had to…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Brothers in the Beloved Community

  the Friendship of Thich Nhat Hanh and Martin Luther King Jr.

  Andrus, Marc Handley, 1956-

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  The two men met in 1966 and 1967 and became not only allies in the peace movement, but friends. This friendship between two prophetic figures from different religions and cultures, from countries at war with one another, reached a great depth in a…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Citizen 13660

  Okubo, Miné

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  Mine Okubo was one of over one hundred thousand people of Japanese descent - nearly two-thirds of whom were American citizens - who were forced into "protective custody" shortly after Pearl Harbor. Citizen 13660, Okubo's graphic memoir of life in…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Crying in H Mart

  a Memoir

  Zauner, Michelle

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  From the indie rock star of Japanese Breakfast fame, and author of the viral 2018 New Yorker essay that shares the title of this book, an unflinching, powerful memoir about growing up Korean American, losing her mother, and forging her own identity.…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Dear Girls

  Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets, and Advice for Living Your Best Life

  Wong, Ali,

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  Ali Wong's heartfelt and hilarious letters to her daughters (the two she put to work while they were still in utero) covering everything they need to know in life, like the unpleasant details of dating, how to be a working mom in a male-dominated…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Freckled

  a Memoir of Growing Up Wild in Hawaii

  Neal, Toby (Toby Wilson)

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  "We live in a place everyone calls paradise. Sure, Kauai’s beautiful, with empty beaches, drip-castle mountains, and perfect surf...but we’ve been 'camping' for six months, eating boiled chicken feed for breakfast, and wearing camouflage clothes so…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Heart of Fire

  An Immigrant Daughter's Story

  Hirono, Mazie, 1947-

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  The intimate and inspiring life story of Mazie Hirono, the first Asian-American woman and the only immigrant serving in the U.S. Senate.

• How to American

  An Immigrant's Guide to Disappointing Your Parents

  Yang, Jimmy O.

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  Standup comic, actor and fan favorite from HBO's Silicon Valley and the film Crazy Rich Asians shares his memoir of growing up as a Chinese immigrant in California and making it in Hollywood.

• The Loneliest Americans

  Kang, Jay Caspian, 1979-

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  In 1965, a new immigration law lifted a century of restrictions against Asian immigrants to the United States. Nobody, including the lawmakers who passed the bill, expected it to transform the country’s demographics. But over the next four decades,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Making of Asian America

  a History

  Lee, Erika

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  Published to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the passage of the United States' Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which has remade our "nation of immigrants,", this is a new and definitive history of Asian Americans. But more than that, it…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Minor Feelings

  An Asian American Reckoning

  Hong, Cathy Park

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  Poet and essayist Cathy Park Hong fearlessly and provocatively blends memoir, cultural criticism, and history to expose fresh truths about racialized consciousness in America.

• My Life

  Growing Up Asian in America

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  Through a series of essays, poems, and comics, 30 creators give voice to moments that defined them and shed light on the immense diversity and complexity of the Asian American identity.

• No One Else

  Johnson, R. Kikuo

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  A graphic novel of great tender truth, as Charlene, Brandon, and Robbie learn to navigate life day to day with their plans, fears, and desires. Gorgeously drawn and set in the author's hometown on the Hawaiian island of Maui, it is the long-awaited…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Permission to Come Home

  Reclaiming Mental Health as Asian Americans

  Wang, Jenny T.

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  Weaving her personal narrative as a Taiwanese American and insights as a clinician with evidenced-based tools, Dr. Jenny T. Wang offers listeners permission to embrace their mental and emotional self-care while understanding and honoring the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Rise

  a Pop History of Asian America From the Nineties to Now

  Yang, Jeff

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  The authors chronicle how we’ve arrived at today’s unprecedented diversity of Asian American cultural representation through engaging topics..., plus essays from major AAPI artists, exclusive roundtables with Asian American cultural icons, and more,…Read moreRead more of this annotation