4.0

Really interesting anthology of essays from a wide variety of Asian American women. The essays cover a number of topics, but they are nearly all primarily concerned with different forms of political activism, and different ways of engaging women like themselves with feminism. That's really too simplistic a description of the book though, firstly because "Asian American" sounds like a monolithic block, and many of the authors here are at pains to describe their own backgrounds and communities, and how these can differ greatly from other Asian American populations (a Filipina woman, for instance, may have different concerns and priorities to an Indian woman). And secondly because feminism means different things to these different subsets, not to mention the various intersections, particularly with class, within the different groups. And it's genuinely illuminating to read about how these authors have encouraged activism in their own communities... the strategies they've used, the challenges faced and the successes both, which they're all passing on here. Well worth reading.