Rise: A Pop History of Asia America from the Nineties to Now

Cultural critic Yang, Angry Asian Man blogger Yu, and filmmaker Wang take readers on a riveting tour through pop cultural milestones of the 1990s to the 2010s, when the children of the wave of Asian immigrants who came to America after the passage of 1965’s Hart-Celler Act were confronted with “the job of trying to fill in the blank of what it meant to be Asian American.” In graphic essays and conversations with artists, the authors reflect on how, for decades, finding success as an Asian American “meant making sure you could appeal to white audiences... [and] compromising who you were.” From the racially motivated murder of Vincent Chin in Detroit in 1982 to more recent reflections on the racial implications and random violence toward Asians perpetrated by those who falsely believe that Covid-19 is a “Chinese disease,” they illustrate the obstacles Asian Americans have come up against and brilliantly juxtapose them with stories of how those barriers have been thwarted (Grey’s Anatomy and Killing Eve fans will appreciate behind-the-scenes details of how Sandra Oh landed her roles on those shows). Interspersed throughout are amusing memes featuring K-pop sensation BTS and quirky depictions of Asian grocery stores and boba shops. This celebration of Asian American culture is as revelatory as it is entertaining. (Jan.)