Title: Facinating (if one-sided) ethnic history...
Product review: An intelligent, enjoyable work on the development of the Chinatown district in Vancouver, focusing on how the dominant European class worked to shape and control the Chinese community through political, legal, social, and cultural means. Anderson's writing is thoroughly readable, academically rigorous but free from the dry, heavy dialogue that plagues so many other scholarly works. My only criticism is her decision to exclude the Chinese immigrants' perspective on the development of their district, instead opting to focus only on how the Europeans perceived the Asian 'intruders'. Providing the opposing view would have given the work better balance and a greater level of depth. Nevertheless, an excellent book for those interested in Canadian history or ethnic/urban politics.
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