The Accidental Asian: Notes of a Native Speaker - Hardcover

A young former speechwriter for President Clinton and the child of Chinese immigrants explores the place of Asian Americans in contemporary American politics and society, the nature of race, and the price of assimilation. 30,000 first printing.

for? That bracing question animates every page of The Accidental Asian, a powerful work from one
of the nation's leading young voices. In these personal and poignant reflections on assimilation,
Eric Liu articulates a vision of American identity that will provoke and inspire. For Liu, the price of
assimilation became clear when he tried to read a memorial book about his father's life, composed in Chinese,
and found himself staring at a blur of indecipherable characters. There in his hands was the measure of his
inheritance. Liu, meanwhile, has watched with both       wonder and concern as a pan-ethnic Asian American
identity has taken shape. Here now is a race that   offers a new source of roots--but also tightens the hold that
color has upon our minds.
Like so many in the second generation, Liu doesn't know whether to embrace, resist, or redefine assimilation--
and ends up doing all three at once. He