In an extraordinary mixture of narrative history, personal recollection, and oral testimony, the writer presents a sweeping history of Asian Americans. He writes of the Chinese who laid paths for the transcontinental railroad, of plantation laborers in the cane fields of Hawaii, and of ‘picture brides’ marrying strangers in the hope of becoming area of the American dream. He tells tales of Japanese-Americans behind the barbed cable of U.S. internment camps during World War II, Hmong refugees tragically unable to adapt to Wisconsin’s alien environment and tradition, and Asian-American students stigmatized from the stereotype of the ‘model minority.’ This is a robust and moving work that may resonate for any Americans, who together make up a nation of immigrants from additional shores.