Angel Island: Immigrant Gateway to America: 9780199896158: Lee, Erika, Yung, Judy

The Angel Island Immigration Station: A Comprehensive History of America's Forgotten Gateway is a groundbreaking book that sheds light on the little-known story of immigrants detained at the Angel Island Immigration Station from 1910 to 1940.

Written by historians Erika Lee and Judy Yung, both descendants of immigrants detained on the island, this book provides a sweeping yet intensely personal history of Chinese "paper sons," Japanese picture brides, Korean students, South Asian political activists, Russian and Jewish refugees, Mexican families, Filipino repatriates, and many others from around the world. With extensive new research, including immigration records, oral histories, and inscriptions on the barrack walls, the authors reveal how America's discriminatory immigration policies changed the lives of immigrants and transformed the nation.

The book is an important work that effectively synthesizes multiple group histories and integrates institutional and social history, with detailed storytelling, elegant writing, beautiful illustrations, and a focus on an often-overlooked aspect of American history.