A review by sahibooknerd
Rise: A Pop History of Asian America from the Nineties to Now by Philip Wang, Jeff Yang, Phil Yu

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.