The Asian Reporter's
BOOK REVIEWS

From The Asian Reporter, V19, #24 (June 23, 2009), page 9.

The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) has released a new textbook focused on the Asian-

American experience. Representing more than 15 million Asian Americans in the United States, Untold Civil Rights Stories is the first book created for high school and freshmen college students to learn and discuss the social struggles Asian Americans have faced before and after September 11, 2001. The book is co-edited by UCLA Asian American Studies adjunct professor Russell C. Leong and Asian Pacific American Legal Center president and executive director Stewart Kwoh.

"Asian Americans are part of the untold story of America’s continuing civil-rights, labor, and human-rights struggles," said editors Leong and Kwoh in a statement. "For decades, Asian Americans, together with African Americans and others, have fought discriminatory laws around segregation, citizenship, and marriage; have helped organize farm workers with César Chávez; and spoken out for the rights of American veterans and other groups."

"Their stories are powerful and we have gathered them here in one book," they said. "We created Civil Rights Stories for all Americans because this is part of America’s untold story."

The book’s 10 fully illustrated chapters include rare newspaper and personal photos in addition to extensive lesson plans and historical timelines created by multicultural curriculum consultant Esther R. Taira.

Chapters in the book focus on oral history accounts by Thai and Latino sweatshop workers; Philip Vera Cruz and the United Farm Workers Movement; hate crimes; breaking the color line in the media; struggles for constitutional rights; and more.

To learn more, or to purchase a copy of Untold Civil Rights Stories, call (310) 825-2968 or visit <www.aasc.ucla.edu/aascpress>.