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livrad's review
5.0
This is an excellent volume on U.S. history that explores it from multiple lenses of the population without glossing over or white-washing aspects of the American story. It holds up America as a multicultural society with the ability to bridge divides between groups, and it tells how the country has both continually struggled for equality and won many victories for diversity.
The thesis of the book is best summed up by an included quote from President Bill Clinton:
"Consider this: we were born with a Declaration of Independence which asserted that we were all created equal and a Constitution that enshrined slavery. We fought a bloody civil war to abolish slavery and preserve the union, but we remained a house divided and unequal by law did another century. We advanced across the continent in the name of freedom, yet in so doing, we pushed Native Americans off their land, often crushing their culture and their livelihood.... In World War II, Japanese-Americans fought valiantly for freedom in Europe, taking great casualties, while at home their families were herded into internment camps. The famed Tuskegee Airmen lost none of the bombers they guarded during the war, but their African-American heritage cost them many rights when they came back home in peace...."
The thesis of the book is best summed up by an included quote from President Bill Clinton:
"Consider this: we were born with a Declaration of Independence which asserted that we were all created equal and a Constitution that enshrined slavery. We fought a bloody civil war to abolish slavery and preserve the union, but we remained a house divided and unequal by law did another century. We advanced across the continent in the name of freedom, yet in so doing, we pushed Native Americans off their land, often crushing their culture and their livelihood.... In World War II, Japanese-Americans fought valiantly for freedom in Europe, taking great casualties, while at home their families were herded into internment camps. The famed Tuskegee Airmen lost none of the bombers they guarded during the war, but their African-American heritage cost them many rights when they came back home in peace...."
carolynf's review against another edition
4.0
This is basically a Young Adult version of Zinn's "A People's History of the United States." Although there were a lot of things I liked about the book, the organization got a bit on my nerves. The purpose of the book is to tell the history of ethnic groups that are often overlooked in US History courses. The chapters are organized by ethnic group: Indians (1000-1776), African Americans (1619-1775), Indians (1814-1879), African Americans (1860-1890), Irish (1700-1900), Mexicans (1820-1903), Chinese (1848-1906), Indians (1863-1938), Japanese to both Hawaii and California (1885-1924), Russian Jews (1880s-1924), Mexicans (1900-1940), and African Americans (1910-1933). The dates within each chapter were a bit jumbled up, but everything still made sense. Personally though I don't like this "thematic" approach, organizing everything by ethnic group. I would have preferred the traditional eras in American history (colonial, antebellum, industrial, etc) with ethnic groups with the name experiences being addressed together. Likewise, after all these ethnic group chapters there is one on World War II, and each group is addressed in turn within that chapter. Because of this it gets a little repetitious: people joined up expecting to earn respect, got assigned shitty jobs to do, did them splendidly, came home to no money and no respect. The last chapters on civil rights movements and immigrants since 1960 (Chinese, Vietnamese, Afghans, Mexicans) are organized the same way. The final organizational detail that I didn't like was the lack of end notes. There are lots of quotes in the book, but no notations or citations in the body of the text. You have to think to yourself "I wonder what source that quote is from," page to the back, and since the end notes are not number you have to just find the one that starts with the first few words of the information from the text. It is very cumbersome and certainly very few YA students will be willing to do it.
Aside from the organization, I think the book is excellent. It would make a very good supplement to one of those new history textbooks from Texas. The stories that are included are humanized without being melodramatic. And they definitely are valuable stories that ought to be told.
Aside from the organization, I think the book is excellent. It would make a very good supplement to one of those new history textbooks from Texas. The stories that are included are humanized without being melodramatic. And they definitely are valuable stories that ought to be told.
akaaks's review against another edition
5.0
This book is essential reading for a more wholistic less white-washed view of American history. While it is structured chronologically, it is broken into racial groups ex: 1880s from the perspectives of Mexican Americans, Chinese immigrants, Irish immigrants, and African Americans. I have used sections of it for my social science immigration and native peoples units.
wratherinejohnson's review against another edition
5.0
A great, quick read. Good book to introduce American history.
ckkurata529's review against another edition
5.0
Love. Learned so many things from this text about the history of migration of ethnic groups in the US. Very short manageable chapters, but now I want to know more.
opal360's review
3.0
I have mixed feelings about this one. The text is written in a style that seems abnormally flat and stilted, compared with other history texts I have used that were geared to the 12-15 age range. This could be because the writer is "translating" an existing adult text into something youth-friendly? It has lost some of its spark in the process.
I also found it jarring that the language was at times so basic yet the content was at times so mature - graphic violence, sexual references, industrial accidents and so on. However, I did appreciate that the book has chapters on so many different nationalities and ethnic groups, allowing you to observe similarities and differences in their histories.
As an aside, I had ordered this to use as a homeschool text with a 10 year old but decided against using it, as - due to the content - I would have ended up paraphrasing or omitting various sections. I thought it was helpful for me to read it, though, and I plan on reading the original version at a later date, [b:A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America|37564|A Different Mirror A History of Multicultural America|Ronald Takaki|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1439467571l/37564._SY75_.jpg|37420].
I also found it jarring that the language was at times so basic yet the content was at times so mature - graphic violence, sexual references, industrial accidents and so on. However, I did appreciate that the book has chapters on so many different nationalities and ethnic groups, allowing you to observe similarities and differences in their histories.
As an aside, I had ordered this to use as a homeschool text with a 10 year old but decided against using it, as - due to the content - I would have ended up paraphrasing or omitting various sections. I thought it was helpful for me to read it, though, and I plan on reading the original version at a later date, [b:A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America|37564|A Different Mirror A History of Multicultural America|Ronald Takaki|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1439467571l/37564._SY75_.jpg|37420].
misosoupcup's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
2.0
how did takaki's history textbook become drier and harder to read after it was adapted into the history lite version???
howlinglibraries's review against another edition
2.0
Assigned reading for MLIS 7421: Multicultural Youth Literature.
I don't know if the problem is me, this book, or just my expectations. I went into it expecting a standard nonfiction book, but what I received was a textbook on the history of North America, slightly watered down to be child-appropriate. It's factual, it's informative, it's not poorly written, it's just dreadfully boring. I found myself trudging through no more than a chapter at a time because it literally read like a school textbook, and if I wasn't assigned to read this for a class, I would have DNFed it within the first 100 pages.
Not only is it boring, it had so much of what seemed like filler material to me; there was a fair amount of repetition, and the author constantly quoted people, though rather than quoting them in a citation-friendly manner, it was usually worded like, "As an Irish peasant woman once said..." or "As a Native American chief once wrote..." Maybe it's a weird pet peeve of mine, but it kept reminding me of when you're a student writing an essay and trying to meet your word minimum, so you throw in arbitrary quotes that offer no value to the work and simply repeat what you've already paraphrased.
Mad respect for the author and his successes in life, and I definitely appreciate the fact that this exists, but I never want to read it ever again.
I don't know if the problem is me, this book, or just my expectations. I went into it expecting a standard nonfiction book, but what I received was a textbook on the history of North America, slightly watered down to be child-appropriate. It's factual, it's informative, it's not poorly written, it's just dreadfully boring. I found myself trudging through no more than a chapter at a time because it literally read like a school textbook, and if I wasn't assigned to read this for a class, I would have DNFed it within the first 100 pages.
Not only is it boring, it had so much of what seemed like filler material to me; there was a fair amount of repetition, and the author constantly quoted people, though rather than quoting them in a citation-friendly manner, it was usually worded like, "As an Irish peasant woman once said..." or "As a Native American chief once wrote..." Maybe it's a weird pet peeve of mine, but it kept reminding me of when you're a student writing an essay and trying to meet your word minimum, so you throw in arbitrary quotes that offer no value to the work and simply repeat what you've already paraphrased.
Mad respect for the author and his successes in life, and I definitely appreciate the fact that this exists, but I never want to read it ever again.