Asian American and Pacific Islander

Non-fiction

1.	Roots & Reflections: South Asians in the Pacific Northwest 
DBC 00308
Bhatt, Amy Pradip; Iyer, Nalini; South Asian Oral History Project.
Immigrants from South Asia first began settling in Washington and Oregon in the nineteenth century, but because of restrictions placed on Asian immigration to the United States in the early twentieth century, the vast majority have come to the region since World War II. Roots and Reflections uses oral history to show how South Asian immigrant experiences were shaped by the region and how they differed over time and across generations. It includes the stories of immigrants from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka who arrived from the end of World War II through the 1980s.

2.	Ghosts of Gold Mountain: the epic Story of the Chinese who built the transcontinental railroad 
DB 95696
Chang, Gordon H; Shih, David. 
An account of the role of Chinese workers in building the Transcontinental Railroad. Draws on research to recover the workers' stories and celebrate their contributions to the remaking of America. 

3.	The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong child, her American doctors, and the collision of two cultures 
DB 45010
Fadiman, Anne. 
Born in California of Laotian (Hmong) parents, Lia suffers from epileptic seizures that began at age three months. As traditional Hmong medicine is not available, Lia's parents take her to American doctors. Neither parental love nor the doctors' sense of duty can transcend the cultural barriers and misconceptions that complicate Lia's medical care. 

4.	The Issei: The World of the First Generation Japanese immigrants, 1885-1924 
DB 28579
Ichioka, Yuji. 
History of the Issei, first-generation Japanese immigrants to the U.S. Ichioka describes the obstacles imposed on these Eastern immigrants by the Japanese government, by American legal actions, and by the labor unions. He also recounts how the exclusionary American policies classed the Japanese as "aliens ineligible for citizenship."

5.	Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning 
DB98817 BR23405
Hong, Cathy Park. 
A collection of essays in which the author reflects on her experiences living as an Asian American in the early twenty-first century. Traces the author's relationship with language, shame, depression, poetry, family, and female friendship. 

6.	We Too Sing America: South Asian, Arab, Muslim, and Sikh Immigrants Shape Our Multiracial Future 
DB 84289 BR 21631
Iyer, Deepa, (Deepa Vasudeva). 
Former executive director for an advocacy group highlights incidents of racially motivated tension and violence directed at South Asian, Arab, Muslim, and Sikh communities across America since 2001. Discusses these events within the context of the history of American xenophobia and the intersection with activist movements like Black Lives Matter. 

7.	The Making of Asian America: A History 
DB 82946
Lee, Erika. 
Historian, and the granddaughter of Chinese immigrants, explores the history of Asian immigration to the United States. Discusses ethnic strongholds such as Chinatown in San Francisco and Japantown in Seattle, social organizations formed to ease transition, and laws created to prevent full integration into American society. 

8.	Spacious Dreams: The First Wave of Asian Immigration 
DB 39953
Steoff, Rebecca; Takaki, Ronald T..
Concerned that Asian Americans are not represented in many history books about the settling of the United States, the author discusses the immigration of Asians during the period between the California gold rush of 1849 and the 1924 immigration act. Includes people from China, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, India, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. 

9.	And Justice for All: An Oral History of the Japanese American Detention Camps 
DB 21716
Tateishi, John
Accounts by thirty Japanese-Americans who describe the horrors and the humiliation of being rounded up and sent to desolate 'relocation' camps during World War II. Although the Japanese-American community was portrayed as a nest of spies and saboteurs, not one Japanese-American was ever brought to trial for disloyal activities.

10.	East to America: Korean American Life Stories 
DB 42383
Yu, Eui-Young; Kim, Elaine H. 
Interviews with thirty-eight Korean Americans, including a journalist, monk, family counselor, policeman, seamstress, marketing executive, hairstylist, and women's rights activist. The professors offer Korean American perspectives on history, identity, and community. Some strong language.

Fiction

1.	The Wangs vs. The World 
DB 88322
Chang, Jade 
When the patriarch of the wealthy Wang family loses all of their money in the financial crisis, the Wangs are forced to pack up and take a drama-filled road trip from Bel-Air to upstate New York. Rollicking, engaging, and full of heart and irresistible characters, The Wangs vs. The World is a riches-to-rags story that is totally fresh

2.	We Are Not Free 
DB 101256
Chee, Traci. 
Three months after the attack at Pearl Harbor, fourteen-year-old Minoru Ito and her Japanese-American community live in a new nightmarish world. And now things are about to get worse as they are forced into internment camps.

3.	Tripmaster Monkey: His Fake Book 
DB 30660
Kingston, Maxine Hong. 
The story's hero, Chinese-American Wittman Ah Sing, is much like Monkey, the saint-troublemaker of Chinese legend. He dreams of writing and producing "an enormous loud play that will awake an audience for us." Surrealistic word-play punctuates the dialogue. Strong language and some descriptions of sex.

4.	Comfort Woman 
DB 44684
Keller, Nora Okja. 
A Korean-American girl grows up in Hawaii with her mother, who is secretly haunted by memories of sexual enslavement as a "comfort woman" during the Japanese occupation of Korea. Outwardly she exhibits her trauma through embarrassing bouts with the spirit world. The daughter who loves and protects her learns the horrible truth only after her mother's death. Violence and descriptions of sex.

5.	Native Speaker 
DB 48919
Lee, Chang-rae. 
Korean American Henry Park, an industrial spy for an American company, finds his life in a shambles. His young son is dead, and his wife has left him. Assigned to get close to a rising Korean American politician, Park must do things he has long avoided: accept his roots, define his loyalties, and find his identity. Descriptions of sex.

6.	Trade Me 
DB 92683
Milan, Courtney. 
Poor college student Tina Chen tells her wealthy classmate Blake Reynolds that he wouldn't be able to last two weeks living her life. She's surprised when he agrees to the trade, and even more surprised when she falls for him. Strong language and some explicit descriptions of sex. 

7.	Short girls: a novel 
DB 69428
Nguyen, Bich Minh. 
Estranged Vietnamese American sisters Van, a lawyer in a loveless marriage, and Linny, a cook dating a married man, reunite for their father's citizenship party in Michigan. Meanwhile Dad wants to go on reality television to demonstrate his inventions for short people. 

8.	First Comes Like 
DB 102474
Rai, Alisha. 
Beauty influencer Jia Ahmed decides it is finally time to meet Bollywood actor Dev Dixit, the man she has been chatting with for months online. When he doesn't know her, Jia realizes she has been catfished. To avoid embarrassment, she asks Dev to pretend to date her. 

9.	From the Lanai and Other Hawaii Stories  
DB 34072
Saiki, Jessica Kawasuna. 
Seventeen short stories provide a glimpse of life in the Japanese community in prewar and wartime Hawaii. Saiki portrays the immigrant family's struggle to retain its cultural and ethnic identity while beginning to blend with the new environment. Each story expresses an aspect of this close-knit society in details and descriptions often reminiscent of a Japanese painting or a Haiku verse.

10.	The Joy Luck Club 
DB 29021
Tan, Amy
In 1949 four Chinese women living in San Francisco founded the Joy Luck Club where they met to play mah jong, tell stories, and "feast" on scraps. Forty years later one of the women dies, her daughter takes her place at the club, and a secret is revealed that unleashes in each person the need to reach back and remember.