Mott Street

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From the winner of the M.F.K. Fisher Book Prize and a New York Public Library Cullman fellow, comes a sweeping narrative history of the Chinese Exclusion Act through an intimate po rtrayal of one family's epic journey to lay down roots in America She tells of their backbreaking work on the transcontinental railroad and of thebrutal racism of frontier towns, then follows their paths to New York City. In New York's Chinatown she discovers a single building on Mott Street where so many of her ancestors would live, begin families, and craft new identities. She follows the men and women who became merchants, ''paper son'' refugees, activists,and heads of the Chinese tong, piecing together how they bore and resisted the weight of the Exclusion laws. She soon realizes that exclusion is not simply a political condition but also a personal one. Gorgeously written, deeply researched, and tremendously resonant, Mott Street uncovers a legacy of exclusion and resilience that speaks to the American experience, past and present. Show more