American Dragons: Twenty-Five Asian American Voices

This anthology features 25 Asian-American voices (writers of short stories, poetry and drama) which editor Lawrence Yep has carefully chosen as representative of the Asian American experience. The authors reflect a variety of backgrounds: Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Thai, yet they share basic commonalities of the immigrant experience. Yep's introduction explains why he refers to these Voices as Dragons; he also includes brief explanatory paragraphs among various sections of the book. Primarily it offers points of view from teenagers or young people who are struggling to define their roles in this new world of America, while retaining their cultural heritage. Most of the protagonists are torn between the desire for acceptance in the broad spectrum of American pop culture, while trying not to betray the dreams and memories of their odler generations. The cover on the paperback edition wordlessly portrays the Chinese rice bowl (symbolic of food) and the Japanese art of orgami (creativity), both depicted against a stark landscape. These "American Dragons" have caused it to bloom with fertility and beauty--thus deserving our literary respect;in fact, their experiences reflect and validate those of most immigrants to our seemingly affluent shores.