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Reviews
Rise: A Pop History of Asian America from the Nineties to Now by Philip Wang, Jeff Yang, Phil Yu
kkamin3's review
5.0
I love, love this book! It’s a book that I didn’t know existed but I’m glad happenstance brought it to me in the library. This is the representation I would have loved growing up, especially when I’m seeing specific states (in the US) that are banning books that celebrate cultural diversity. This is a book that can’t be read on one sitting, but I immediately bought my own copy to refer to.
emma_eng's review
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Wouldn’t recommend this as an audiobook but love the hardcover.
ikuo1000's review
5.0
As fun as it is informative!
This book is about the rise of Asian America, a self-defined community (separate from the idea of "Asians in America") that broke through stereotypes and bamboo ceilings. The growth of Asian America's visibility was spurred by the coming of age of kids born to a wave of Asian immigrants who first arrived in the U.S. when exclusionary immigration laws were lifted in the late 1960s.
I am one of those kids! This book, more than any other, resonated with me in an unprecedented way. It absolutely made me feel seen. Everything, literally everything, down to the list of songs in "Original Synth: The Anthems of Young Asian America" (p. 26-27) rang true for me. In "Finding Our Religion" (p. 279), I actually burst out laughing at #27: "People singing hymns in an Asian language and English at the same time, creating cacophony" (p. 281) - a hilarious truth I witnessed in my youth and had totally forgotten.
Rise is a collection of essays, illustrations, graphic novel content, photos, timelines, lists, infographics, quotes, commentary - all of it raising up Asian American people, culture, accomplishments, and issues. The three authors - whose work I've followed online for years! - wrote most of the content, but plenty of other prominent Asian Americans have bylines or were interviewed. (If you aren't familiar with a particular contributor, there's a handy list with biographical blurbs at the back of the book.) It's very much a coffee table book - printed on heavy, photo quality paper with content organized in colorful, eye-catching, easy-to-digest chunks - but I read it from start to finish, cover-to-cover, every word, every caption. I just could not get enough of it.
The vast majority of the book upliftingly covers "the good", e.g., Asian American representation in entertainment, sports, arts, politics, etc. Sufficient space is also given to "the bad", e.g., yellowface and cultural appropriation, and "the ugly", e.g., controversial topics like tiger parenting.
Though the book's subtitle focuses attention on the 1990s and later, there's actually a very enlightening "Before" section that presents a brief but thorough overview of Asian American history through the 1980s. I was in high school and college during the 1990s, so that section felt personally nostalgic for me. And with much of the 2010s still fresh in my mind, I really enjoyed getting a behind-the-scenes look at Fresh Off the Boat, Crazy Rich Asians, Linsanity, and #StarringJohnCho.
This book is about the rise of Asian America, a self-defined community (separate from the idea of "Asians in America") that broke through stereotypes and bamboo ceilings. The growth of Asian America's visibility was spurred by the coming of age of kids born to a wave of Asian immigrants who first arrived in the U.S. when exclusionary immigration laws were lifted in the late 1960s.
I am one of those kids! This book, more than any other, resonated with me in an unprecedented way. It absolutely made me feel seen. Everything, literally everything, down to the list of songs in "Original Synth: The Anthems of Young Asian America" (p. 26-27) rang true for me. In "Finding Our Religion" (p. 279), I actually burst out laughing at #27: "People singing hymns in an Asian language and English at the same time, creating cacophony" (p. 281) - a hilarious truth I witnessed in my youth and had totally forgotten.
Rise is a collection of essays, illustrations, graphic novel content, photos, timelines, lists, infographics, quotes, commentary - all of it raising up Asian American people, culture, accomplishments, and issues. The three authors - whose work I've followed online for years! - wrote most of the content, but plenty of other prominent Asian Americans have bylines or were interviewed. (If you aren't familiar with a particular contributor, there's a handy list with biographical blurbs at the back of the book.) It's very much a coffee table book - printed on heavy, photo quality paper with content organized in colorful, eye-catching, easy-to-digest chunks - but I read it from start to finish, cover-to-cover, every word, every caption. I just could not get enough of it.
The vast majority of the book upliftingly covers "the good", e.g., Asian American representation in entertainment, sports, arts, politics, etc. Sufficient space is also given to "the bad", e.g., yellowface and cultural appropriation, and "the ugly", e.g., controversial topics like tiger parenting.
Though the book's subtitle focuses attention on the 1990s and later, there's actually a very enlightening "Before" section that presents a brief but thorough overview of Asian American history through the 1980s. I was in high school and college during the 1990s, so that section felt personally nostalgic for me. And with much of the 2010s still fresh in my mind, I really enjoyed getting a behind-the-scenes look at Fresh Off the Boat, Crazy Rich Asians, Linsanity, and #StarringJohnCho.
sahibooknerd's review
5.0
I frankly can’t describe the experience of reading this book in a small review. I’m not exactly Asian American because I came to the states only about a decade ago but it’s natural that I want to engage with atleast some part of the Asian American culture, and get to know more of this history. So, this is an excellent book in terms of getting a little introduction to this history and pop culture and I adored every single page of it. There’s essays and comics and interviews, very cool looking spreads about boba tea and Asian festivals and some interesting playlists of Asian American artists and so much more. I definitely have added a few indie movies to my watch list which I had never heard of before, the playlists are in my Spotify saved, and I managed to finish watching both the Linsanity and 38 in the Garden documentaries.
Overall, this book gave me a lot of joy and huge amounts of appreciation for everyone in the Asian American community who have fought for these rights and visibility over the decades, and while hate crimes against Asians are on a high since the pandemic, we can’t lose hope and only work together to make more strides in the future.
Overall, this book gave me a lot of joy and huge amounts of appreciation for everyone in the Asian American community who have fought for these rights and visibility over the decades, and while hate crimes against Asians are on a high since the pandemic, we can’t lose hope and only work together to make more strides in the future.
whatcassiedid's review
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
A must read
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Racial slurs