A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America

by Ronald Takaki Narrated by Peter Berkrot

Overview

Upon its first publication, A Different Mirror was hailed by critics and academics everywhere as a dramatic new retelling of our nation's past. Beginning with the colonization of the New World, it recounts the history of America in the voice of the non-Anglo peoples of the United States-Native Americans, African Americans, Jews, Irish Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, and others-groups who helped create this country's rich mosaic culture.



From the role of black soldiers in preserving the Union to the history of Chinese Americans from 1900 to 1941, from an investigation into the issue of "illegal" immigrants from Mexico to a look at the sudden visibility of Muslim refugees from Afghanistan, Takaki's work is a remarkable achievement that grapples with the raw truth of American history and examines the ultimate question of what it means to be an American.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"A splendid achievement, a bold and refreshing new approach to our national history. The research is meticulous, the writing powerful and eloquent, with what can only be called an epic sweep across time and cultures." —Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States

"Takaki's book is nothing less than an attempt to view all of American history from a multicultural perspective. It is a laudable effort — humane, well-informed, accessible, and often inclusive. It is clearly not intended to divide Americans but rather to teach them to value the nation's inescapable diversity." —New York Times Book Review

"One closes the book with a deepened sense of the centrality of ethnicity in the American past." —Washington Post

"An excellent place to start in understanding how this uniquely diverse country came to be and where it is headed."—Christian Science Monitory

"A groundbreaker...It's fascinating to watch Takaki weave these multifaceted strands into a single narrative text." —San Francisco Chronicle

"While Takaki's subtitle is 'a history of multicultural America,' his book is also a manifesto for the future."—New York Review of Books

"A Different Mirror advances a truly humane sense of American possibility." —Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

MAY 2011 - AudioFile

Takaki’s overview of the role of minorities in America’s history—native, immigrant, racial, national, ethnic, and religious—clearly takes their side and sympathizes with their often appalling treatment but saves overt polemic for the conclusion. Peter Berkrot’s narration, fittingly, adopts a tone of mostly understated sympathy. Quotations often suggest an accent or dialect—Hispanic, Southern, Irish, for example—a tactic that adds warmth and color but manages to skirt stereotyping by its subtlety. Berkrot’s voice is a bit astringent but serviceable; his reading well paced, eloquent, and clear; his tone and expression are well matched to the text. Barring a few high-profile mispronunciations (“epi-stemology”), he gives a professional but personable reading of a history more Americans should know. W.M. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171267681
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	03/31/2011
Edition description:	Unabridged
Sales rank:	575,630

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