always a pleasure to read. You won't be sorry if you buy this book!

The dialogue is priceless in this novel! I'm going to read it again and again. It takes place mostly in the 60s, where our hero, Ulysses, grows up as a brakeman for the railroad. His father is a movie star who banks off of what Frank Chin calls the white "racist love" of America. What would that be? Well, being Charlie Chan's son, being a "neurotic, exotic" Asian, being a prostitute, dragon lady, or an effeminate, passive individual; all in all, having a westernized expectation of an Asian. Our hero, Ulysses, is the true Chinaman and you should make an effort to read this book.

I liked it more than DONALD DUK (although, I loved that book), because it's a step higher in experiencing how it is to be a Chinaman. Frank Chin has changed my life, but no other book has done it more than this one. Incidentally, Chin happened to be the first Asian in history to get a play produced in America. If you're interested, you should get it here ... Since his play came out it caused a storm of controversy, as this one will too.

Excellent book! Some events bring me back to my childhood years growing up in the Bay area.

I love the essays of Frank Chin. I just wished that the editor would put in "Racist Love" in this anthology. Anyway, this book is a treat because you'll have a commentary of Sun Tzu's ART OF WAR. Over and over again I've heard Chin mention how well ART OF WAR reflects Asian thinking. Well, it's now available to you guys, written by Frank Chin himself!

This book is a work of art. I loved every page of it. Thank you Mr. Chin

Frank Chin's collection of essays is magnificent. The book is a course in itself on the authenticity of the Chinese-American experience in American culture. Chin's ideas are well researched, even scholarly in origin, but they are presented in ways that are eminently accessible. Each of the essays is provocative of the reader's thinking. I loved the essay on "Lowe Hoy & the 3 Legged Toad", for its exposition of strategy in Chinese social experience, and for its use of authentic Cantonese colloquialisms in his interviewees' speech.

There is no question that when it comes to specific, focused cultural criticism, Frank Chin has the task nailed down. I don't know the time frame spanned by these essays, but in terms of content they cover all the bases. Any student of Asian-American history and culture can profit from Chin's sometimes tongue-in-cheek, sometimes frightfully serious analysis of several aspects of the Asian-American experience. Chin deals with immigration/migration; gang subcultures; folk history and mythology; and others. But the thing that makes this book so impressive, beyond its coverage, is Chin's writing style -- fast and loose, comfortable and razor-sharp. The jacket describes him as a "literary gangster" -- never have I heard a more apt description of an author. He wrangles words from the oral histories he obtains and makes them work for him. But he is a respectful gangster -- the subjects of his interviews seem open, warm to him and to his neverending questions. The text can get heavy at times, but this is a function of the content it taps. A very, very powerful book.

Often people say that Frank Chin is an activist. This is true, but we shouldn't forget that he is also a writer. After all, it was his play Chickencoop Chinaman that help open doors for Asian American artists. In this book you will read eight great short stories by Frank Chin. The stories include: "Railroad Standard Time", "The Eat and Run Midnight People", "The Chinatown Kid", "The Only Real Day", "Yes, Young Daddy", "Give the Enemy Sweet Sissies and Women to Infatuate Him, and Jades and Silks to Blind Him with Greed", "A Chinese Lady Dies", and "The Sons of Chan". After reading these stories, you will understand why Chin won the American Book Award.

If you liked Frank Chin's book Donald Duk, and enjoy the short story collections that are sprouting like weeds these days, you'll like this one. :)

And if you liked Maxine Hong Kingston's book The Woman Warrior, and know how much Mr. Chin doesn't like the Mulan spoof Kingston put it, then read the Afterword to this volume (this one alone is a laugh and a half).

"Our anthology is exclusively Asian American. That means Filipino, Chinese, and Japanese Americans, American born and raised, who got their China and Japan from the radio, off the silver screen, from television, out of comic books, from the pushers of white American culture that pictured the yellow man as something that when wounded, sad, or angry, or swearing, or wondering whined, shouted, or screamed "aiiieeeee!" Asian America, so long ignored and forcibly excluded from creative participation in American culture, is wounded, sad, angry, swearing, and wondering, and this is his AIIIEEEEE!!! It is more than a whine, shout, or scream. It is fifty years of our whole voice."

Finally, an anthology of Asian Americans who've stayed unassimilated in a white supremacist society. Thus angering white men (like Earl Derr Biggers and Sax Rohmer) to denigrate Asians into gross depictions like Charlie Chan, Fu Manchu, Suzie Wong, etc. Much debate and controversy came from this book, which should cause you to buy it. Some Asians who have sold out to the stereotypes (Asians like Leong Gor Yun, C.Y. Lee, Yung Wing, Lin Yutang, Calvin Lee, Betty Lee Sung) are doing everything they can to keep this book from being purchased (see my review of the June 1974 Aiiieeeee! edition). Funny, it seems that has done nothing more but up the sales of this important book. In failing to do so, these same Asians have tried to ruin the reputation of these editors. Either way, this book stands strong and unrefuted.

Since the publication of this book, it has been criticized for it's "machismo, misogynist" morale. Guess who these criticisms are coming from? White feminists (or those who support them). They cannot look beyond history and textual matter, instead they force and assume their principles and try (and unforunately, they succeeded) to make this a battle of Women's rights. I have read Chin's "Come All Ye Asian American Writers of the Real and of the Fake" and in nowhere is there any misogynistic dictum. Why? Because this isn't a matter of Women's views or MEN'S! It's about history and how it should be interpreted. People like Kingston, Hwang, and Tan want to deconstruct Asian American history. Feminists want to help Kingston's and Tan's deconstructive views by arbitrarily labeling Chin as a misogynist. If Chin or the editors of The Big Aiiieeeee! were misogynist why would they have women writers in this anthology? Just because there aren't that many women writers doesn't mean it's totally and utterly sexist. Could it be because there aren't that many authentic Asian American women writers?! If there are no authentic texts to Asia America, would it hurt to say that stereotypes (or whatever) are actually right?

My boyfriend (he's Chinese) saw my copies of Amy Tan and Maxine Hong Kingston books, he wasn't happy with my selections of these so-called Asian-American books, so he gave me the Big Aiiieeeee! I was surprised what Tan and Kingston have done (read Frank Chin's article...it's a blast!). I have to admit that I still like their (Tan and Kingston) books, but they don't represent Asian-Americans that's for sure. There are some Asian girls I know who are ashamed of being... well, Asians, so they go out with White guys (ever heard of that bimbo Margaret Cho?). I don't have a problem with that (with people going out with different races other than their own), but it seems that they're ashamed of their own heritage. They should get this book and read Sui Sin Far. Now, my favorite author! She writes about how a White woman falls in love with a Chinese man. And in spite of laws banning interracial marriage she was still not ashamed of him!

...Amy Tan, David Henry Hwang, Maxine Hong Kingston, Gish Jen, or Jade Snow Wong (and then some!)? YOU BETTER READ THIS BOOK! These people have reinvented Asian literature that have sold out to the Christian (and for that matter Darwinian) white-racist-stereotypical form of Asian writing. You'll read it all in this book, and it is disturbing to say the least. The editors of THE BIG AIIIEEEEE! shows how these authors hate what is Chinese and invent a fake history that appease the white racist way.

Frank Chin truly can lay claim to being the Father of contemporary Asian-American literature, having been the progenitor not only of the first APA play to have a full professional production in the US, but also due to his role as the leading enabler and resource for APA writers of fiction, poetry and creative non-fiction at a time when no such movement existed. Unfortunately, mainstream APA culture tends to disown him from their little "club", however, and Mr. Chin has endured the recent fate of being something of a forgotten Uncle, dumped off at the loony bin - a shame, especially as more contemporary Asian-American literature tends to lack the sort of passion, history and pride as did the early work of Frank Chin.

Although it's true that his plays can sometimes be crude and sophomoric, there are passages in "The Chickencoop Chinaman" that foretell Mr. Chin's eventual success as an essayist and novelist - particularly in wistful and mournful monologues from the protagonist, in direct address to the audience, about childhood heroes (believing, for example, that The Lone Ranger was certainly Chinese behind that mask), and other dynamic movements that capture, and inspire, a sense of the spirit and discovery that must have permeated the burgeoning Asian-American movement of the 1970s.

"The Year Of The Dragon", conversely, is more typically a real "play", structurally conforming with classic American modes of expression. It is a play that takes as its root a thematic question that remains a frequent one with Mr. Chin, in his subsequent and recent novels and essays: the personal, individual reconciliation of Asian heritage with American citizenship (or, as he refers to it, "the identity crisis"). While this is a theme very common in Asian-American literature since 1976, the most interesting thing here is to note the radical difference between the way Mr. Chin represents this issue from, say, the more mainstream work of Amy Tan - in Mr. Chin's view of the world, this "identity crisis" is neither a tragedy, a struggle, nor some curse that is to inevitably befall anyone who dares try being Asian and American at one and the same time; rather, according to Chin, this "identity crisis" is a BIG FAT LIE.

When I first came across this collection, I was a college student, and can you imagine the massive revolution that took place in my mind, through the simple act of reading that assertion? That the Asian-American identity crisis is an invention borne not of the Asian or Asian-American mind, but the institutional white American mind? That being Asian and being American were completely reconcilable states of being, simply by the individual process of a person being cool with that?

It was a revolution to me when I first read it, and one that I sadly feel has been forgotten (or otherwise ignored, toward the end goal of exploiting the romantic, foreign view of a "stranger in a strange land" that marks much of the most popular Asian-American literature of the day). I have a hunch it would be a revolution today, if only people were to come along and listen.

That being said, I do wonder if Mr. Chin is left irreversibly bitter over all of this - if I'm correct, he never wrote another play. And while his essays are excellent, I wonder if he is resigned to being the crazy Uncle of APA literature, always on the fringe and perceived forever as he likes to think of himself, a "literary gangster". It's not a bad gig, for sure, but I can't help wish he approached his work now with the same inventive spirit and sense of abandon as he did when these plays were written. I suppose that's a lot to ask an old man.

to challenge the stereotypes of Chinese. You need only read these famous lines in Chickencoop Chinaman: "Chinamen are made, not born, my dear. Out of junk-imports, lies, railraod scrap iron, dirty jokes, broken bottles, cigar smoke, Cosquilla Indian blood, wino spit, and lots of milk of amnesia." It's no wonder that this play is the first Asian American play produced off-Broadway. It is controversial (for good reason), angry, and thought-provoking. Did you know that George Takei played Fred Eng in The Year of the Dragon?

...in America! That alone should give you a reason to read these important plays. These plays caused an uproar of controversy and discussion. Why? Because many Westerners (and Westernized Asians) had no clue of what it really meant to be Asian. Do you? If not, you should start by reading Chickencoop Chinaman or Year of the Dragon. If you would like a more academic discussion on this controversy you should purchase THE BIG AIIIEEEEE!....

A strong and complex male lead, great dialogue, and the heroic tradition - all make this novel vintage Frank Chin. Meet Donald Duk who believes Chinese can never be Americans because they're too "passive" and "non-competitive." Meet his father, King Duk, who wishes "Pearl Buck was alive and walk into my restaurant so I can cut out her heart and liver." Meet Kwan the Coolie worker who will not bow down to the White racist's ways. And meet Kwan Kung, the best representation of what it means to be Chinese. You want a great intoduction of why Chinese do the things they do? Read this book. Want to know what Chinese New Year is like? Read this book. Want a book that is REALLY Chinese and not a fake one? Read this book. Want a book that tells the REAL story about the Coolie workers? Read this book. Want to know how it's like being in a Chinese Opera? Read this book. I'm proud of being Chinese after reading DONALD DUK.

This was required reading in high school. I read the book in one day. I don't think I'll ever see Chinese culture the same ever again! Buy it, you'll like it.

This book is one of the rare novels that combines an interesting story with outstanding writing. Frank Chin's style -- rhythmic syntax reminiscent of Beat poets with a decisively modern edge -- is reason enough to read this tale of a young boy's acceptance and embracing of his cultural identity and heritage. I've read it twice already and there will be many more readings to come; it's a good frequent stopping place in the hermeneutic circle for anyone who has dealt with his or her own ethnic identity crisis.

John Okada explores race and identity in postwar North America with an unflinching, sensitive eye. His protagonist is a Japanese-American who has spent the duration of the war in prison for refusing military service, on the advice of his mother, who believed the Japanese emperor would call them all home some day. He struggles with the consequences of that decision for the remainder of the novel. This isn't simply a Japanese-American internment story, but a rich analysis of what it means to be non-white in the United States, and all the pain and joy that accompanies such an identity.

Beyond the compelling subject matter, his prose is poetic, visceral, gently engaging of all the senses. The dialogue is evocative without being bogged down by elaborate dialect. Okada has a talent for a natural, flowing narrative voice that almost dreamily leads the reader through complex emotional issues. I cannot understand reviewers who criticized this book as "preachy" - in fact, Okada seems to go out of his way to avoid expressing personal opinions on how the reader should feel about the events described. Never did I feel he was driving home a moral lesson or other.

The framework of the discovery of the novel - as explained in the forward by Frank Chin - is another tragic and dramatic story in itself. Chin's white-hot rage at the loss of Okada's research and papers fairly bristles off the page. The forward is a passionate essay about the birth of Asian-American literature and is worth a read on its own.

It is sad that John Okada wrote only one novel in his life, but it gives me great joy just to mention this book to anyone. _No-No Boy_ is a novel that deals with the high emotions of those felt by Japanese Americans during the tumulous times of the second world war. It is a time when American citizens are incarcerated into "relocation centers" without any wrong doing except that their last names were Okada, Sone, and Ikeda. However, as John Okada traces the story of Kenji, a nisei who refused to answer yes to the loyalty questionaire, we do not feel any strong bitterness about the whole situation that could be all too common in such a text. This touching novel is ultimately about one's search for a home, for loyalty, and for acceptance into society. These themes, while prevalent in many Japanese American texts written about this time period, are universal and can be shared by anyone who has ever felt the pangs of loneliness associated with being an outcast. If anyone is interested in reading more about fiction, good fiction on these issues, there is no book I could recommend more highly than this one. John Okada's book is the ultimate in Asian American literature and should be required reading for all those who want to read more about American history and American literature

John Okada's novel is one of the pioneering works of a growing field of American literature that shares the unique experiences of a group mostly neglected by mainstream America: Asian Americans. This category of literature, known as Asian American literature, seeks to expose the difficulty of finding identity that these Americans have faced because they don't fit in either the mainstream Caucasian American identity or the "model minority" (i.e. African American) identity that has been so prevalent in America, both past and present.
This story takes place during World War II: a terrible time for Japanese Americans, the subjects of this story. It shares the difficulty that a young Japanese American man named Ichiro faced when choosing not to fight for America, the country he always called his home. The two years in prison he spent for rejecting the draft was not nearly as painful as the difficulty of defining himself as an American. America is the country that, on one hand, is his home by birth and residence and, on the other hand, has punished his ethnic group via internment based solely on a distant place of origin. On his journey to find his identity he comes upon many characters, both Japanese Americans and others, that come to shape his perception of what it means to be an American. "No-No Boy" is a magnificent piece of Asian American literature.

The reviewer below misses the point. This book was the first anthology of Asian American writers to come out of the period of the founding of Ethnic Studies. It focuses soley on works by Japanese, Chinese and Pilipino Americans and features the usual suspects, Frank Chin, Carlos Bulosan, etc. It does not inlcude works by Vietnamese or Thai Americans because there was next to no immigration or even refugees from those countries immigrating pre 1965. Get your facts straight and review the text in its historical context and you will find that this text is a valuable source to capture the many dilemmas that Asian American's faced in forging an identity of their own.

You guys should make an effort to buy this book (if it's still around). In it, the editors expose "Asian American" authors who thought it best to represent Asian Americans by making them love "white America" in spite of their own Asian culture! For instance, Pardee Lowe has an aversion toward the tong his father is in; and in order to keep him from these "heathen chinese" he helps convert his father into Christianity (this nation's prevalent religion). You will also learn how subtle racist figures like Charlie Chan represent what whites perceive as Asianness. Bear in mind, the editors are not segregating the term Asian to mean just Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino. Rather, they are merely using Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino literature to convey (this is a part of their argument) that these different subgroups (and then some) within Asia America were not (and are not) assimilated (they did not hate their own culture to show their patriotism toward America). They open their book with "Asian Americans are not one people but several - Chinese Americans, Japanese Americans, and Filipino Americans." They are not saying "Asian Americans are not one people but only three..." And, yes, I've met Asian Americans who are just as biased as white people, but this isn't the case that the editors are making (nor are they this way). Really, all they are doing is challenging the subtle racist stereotypical view whites have of Asians (which is a prevalent view). Some of you may not know what a stereotype of an Asian person is! Why not find out how REAL Asians are by reading this masterpiece.

You guys should make an effort to buy this book (if it's still around). In it, the editors expose "Asian American" authors who thought it best to represent Asian Americans by making them love "white America" in spite of their own Asian culture! For instance, Pardee Lowe has an aversion toward the tong his father is in; and in order to keep him from these "heathen Chinese" he helps convert his father into Christianity (this nation's prevalent religion). You will also learn how subtle racist figures like Charlie Chan represent what whites perceive as Asianness. Bear in mind, the editors are not segregating the term Asian to mean just Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino. Rather, they are merely using Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino literature to convey (this is a part of their argument) that these different subgroups (and then some) within Asia America were not (and are not) assimilated (they did not hate their own culture to show their patriotism toward America). They open their book with "Asian Americans are not one people but several - Chinese Americans, Japanese Americans, and Filipino Americans." They are not saying "Asian Americans are not one people but only three..." And, yes, I've met Asian Americans who are just as biased as white people, but this isn't the case that the editors are making (nor are they this way). Really, all they are doing is challenging the subtle racist stereotypical view whites have of Asians (which is a prevalent view). Some of you may not know what a stereotype of an Asian person is! Why not find out how REAL Asians are by reading this masterpiece.