Book Review

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Book Review | The Journal of American History, 86.1 | The History Cooperative

Claiming America: Constructing Chinese American Identities during the Exclusion Era. Ed. by K. Scott Wong and Sucheng Chan. (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1998. xii, 217 pp. Cloth, $59.95, isbn 1-56639-575-5. Paper, $19.95, isbn 1-56639-576-3.)

Anyone who still has any doubt about the ability of the Chinese to "assimilate" into American society should read this book. Drawing extensively on the historical records left by those who lived through the years of the Chinese Exclusion Acts, the authors of this volume cogently argue that Chinese Americans made determined efforts to claim a place in American society even in the most hostile years of the exclusion era. 1

Readers, however, need to be forewarned of the meaning of "assimilation" applied in this book. Unlike some scholars of United States immigration history who describe the country as an almighty "melting pot" capable of melting all ethnic cultures into the single culture of its dominant group, the authors of this volume uphold the belief that American national identity is based on a set of ideological principles that unites all social groups. As they unanimously agree, it was through this set of principles that Chinese Americans, for various historical reasons, identified with their host country, despite the animosity of the time. . . .

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