Synopses & Reviews
Hailed by the Philadelphia Inquirer as “a must-read,” Forbidden Workers tells for the first time the full story of recent Chinese immigration to this country. Widely praised from the Wall Street Journal to Asian Week, the book uses the Chinese experience to shed light on broader issues of immigration from countries around the world. Author Peter Kwong has interviewed countless immigrant workers, activists, Chinatown powerbrokers, and “snakeheads” (smugglers who bring immigrants to the United States) and has traveled to China to talk with families of immigrants. The result is an unprecedented look at an invisible community within American society—and at a billion-dollar industry whose commodity is workers who labor under conditions approaching modern slavery.
Review
"
Forbidden Workers is destined to become a classic." —
The Wall Street Journal"An honest look at an appalling situation." —Kirkus Reviews
"A provocative and alarming book that should appeal to a wide audience." —Library Journal
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 257-267) and index.
About the Author
Peter Kwong is the author of several books, including Chinese America (with Dušanka Mišcevic); Chinatown, N.Y.; and Forbidden Workers, all available from The New Press. He is Professor of Asian American Studies and Urban Affairs and Planning at Hunter College and a professor of sociology at the Graduate Center, CUNY. He lives in New York City.
Table of Contents
The pig trade: the contemporary version -- Going to America -- Snakeheads -- The limits of kinship networks -- Manufacturing ethnicity -- The exclusion of Chinese labor -- Ineffectual enforcement of immigration and labor law -- Waiting for organized labor -- The undocumented immigrant as part of American labor.