(B) The Accidental Asian (Eric Liu, 1999)
Grade: B
This memoir explores Liu’s upbringing as a Chinese American but also is a more general dialogue about racial identity, asking what role race plays in defining who we are. Is race merely a classification system of human invention? Or am I, say, good at math because I am Chinese? Perhaps racial definitions are too limiting. Consider Tiger Woods (his dad is .5 black, .25 Native American, .25 Chinese; his mom is .5 Thai, .25 Chinese and .25 white). I can’t do the math and combine these percentages to label Tiger, because I am, in fact, terrible at math. (Most Americans, however, thought, “Easy, he’s black.”) Though Liu is a bit too optimistic for a future without racial barriers, I do identify with the profound loss felt in looking back upon my heritage and my disconnection with it.