The Chinese-American story runs through the whole of American immigration history, from the railroad workers and the exclusion laws to the mothers and daughters of modern fiction. These six books tell it across history, memoir and the novel, from an award-winning study of anti-Chinese expulsion to the beloved classic of Chinatown families. Together they trace a community that was legally shut out and yet became woven into the fabric of the country.
These are works of history and fiction, not legal advice.
Quick picks:
- Best novel: The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. View on Amazon
- Best history: The Chinese Must Go by Beth Lew-Williams. View on Amazon
- Best memoir: The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston. View on Amazon
History and memoir
The Chinese Must Go by Beth Lew-Williams
Beth Lew-Williams is a Princeton University historian. An award-winning study of the anti-Chinese violence and exclusion that shaped American immigration law. Rigorous and unflinching.
Best for: Exclusion and its violence.
→ View on AmazonIsland by Him Mark Lai
Him Mark Lai is a team of historians. A moving collection of the poems Chinese detainees carved into the walls of the Angel Island immigration station, with full history. Unlike anything else.
Best for: Voices carved into the walls.
→ View on AmazonThe Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston
Maxine Hong Kingston is a celebrated author. The classic, genre-defining memoir braiding Chinese myth and a Chinese-American girlhood. A foundational text of the form.
Best for: The classic that defined the genre.
→ View on AmazonThe Making of Asian America by Erika Lee
Erika Lee is a leading historian. The definitive sweeping history of Asians in America, from the first arrivals through today. Authoritative, humane and essential.
Best for: The complete Asian-American history.
→ View on AmazonFiction
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
Amy Tan is a beloved novelist. The classic novel of Chinese-American mothers and daughters, told in interlocking stories. A defining immigrant-family book.
Best for: Mothers, daughters, two worlds.
→ View on AmazonGirl in Translation by Jean Kwok
Jean Kwok is a bestselling novelist. A moving novel of a Chinese girl living a double life between a Brooklyn sweatshop and school. Compulsively readable.
Best for: A double life, richly told.
→ View on AmazonHow we chose these
We looked for authors with real authority or genuine lived experience: immigration attorneys and economists, credentialed historians and scholars, award-winning journalists and the memoirists who lived these stories. Where a book takes a policy position, we note it plainly and let you decide. We describe and compare these books to help you choose; we do not reproduce their contents.
Please note: these are books, not legal advice. U.S. immigration law changes frequently and every case is different. For your specific situation, consult a licensed immigration attorney.
