Asian Americans are widely believed to be passive and compliant participants inthe U.S. political process if they participate at all. In this groundbreaking bo... » 

Asian Americans are widely believed to be passive and compliant participants inthe U.S. political process if they participate at all. In this groundbreaking book Peite Lien maps the actions and strategies of Asian Americansas they negotiate a space in the American political arena.Professor Lien looks at political participation by Asian Americans prior to1965 and examines at both organizational and masspolitics levels how raceethnicity and transnationalism help to construct a complex Americanelectorate. She looks not only at rates of participation among Asian Americansas compared with Blacks Latinos American Indians and nonHispanic whitesbut also among specific groups of Asian Americans Chinese JapaneseFilipinos Koreans Asian Indians and Vietnamese. She also discusses howgender socioeconomic class and place of birth affect political participation.With documentation ranging from historical narrative to opinion survey dataProfessor Lien creates a picture of a diverse group of politically activepeople who are intent on carving out a place for themselves in Americanpolitical life. «