A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America by Ronald TakakiMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
From the cover and the author's last name, I assumed over 400 pages of Nisei recollection. Interesting enough, but a couple of years before I started to dive in. Nisei and Issei together aren't even a chapter in this book wide in scope of the spectrum of immigrant experience. It starts pre-colonial and wraps up quickly after WW II. Covering Africans, Irish, Chinese (barred from citizenship by pre-WWI "white"-only Federal laws), Japanese (unable to own land in California as late as the '40s) and more is done two distinctive attributes that make this work superlative. First, there is a lengthy comparison to one of my favorite Shakespeare plays The Tempest as New World fantasy and, secondly, immigrant poems and songs are continually brought forward to evoke the experience and point of view.
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