Book Talk: Strangers in the Land

Join the 1871 Memorial Project for a virtual presentation, "The Promise and Peril of Being Chinese in America: A Conversation with Michael Luo and Lisa See," where they will have a discussion of Michael Luo's book, "Strangers in the Land: Exclusion, Belonging, and the Epic Story of the Chinese in America."

In a captivating debut, Michael Luo's book follows the Chinese from the middle of the nineteenth century to modern times, as they persisted in the face of bigotry and persecution, revealing anew the complications of our multiracial democracy.

In 1889, while upholding Chinese exclusion, Supreme Court Justice Stephen J. Field characterized them as “strangers in the land.” Only in 1965 did America’s gates swing open to people like Luo’s parents, immigrants from Taiwan. Today there are more than twenty-two million people of Asian descent in the United States and yet the “stranger” label, Luo writes, remains. Drawing on archives from across the country, Strangers in the Land is revelatory and unforgettable, an essential American story.

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