Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Aug 2023
400 pages
Genre: Biography/Memoir
Publication Information
A trenchant reclamation of the Chinese American movie star, whose battles against cinematic exploitation and endemic racism are set against the currents of twentieth-century history.
Born into the steam and starch of a Chinese laundry, Anna May Wong (1905–1961) emerged from turn-of-the-century Los Angeles to become Old Hollywood's most famous Chinese American actress, a screen siren who captivated global audiences and signed her publicity photos—with a touch of defiance—"Orientally yours."
Now, more than a century after her birth, Yunte Huang narrates Wong's tragic life story, retracing her journey from Chinatown to silent-era Hollywood, and from Weimar Berlin to decadent, prewar Shanghai, and capturing American television in its infancy. As Huang shows, Wong's rendezvous with history features a remarkable parade of characters, including a smitten Walter Benjamin and (an equally smitten) Marlene Dietrich.
Challenging the parodically racist perceptions of Wong as a "Dragon Lady," "Madame Butterfly," or "China Doll," Huang's biography becomes a truly resonant work of history that reflects the raging anti-Chinese xenophobia, unabashed sexism, and ageism toward women that defined both Hollywood and America in Wong's all-too-brief fifty-six years on earth.
"It's a fascinating—and long overdue—close-up of a Hollywood trailblazer." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Huang's lively, surprising, and all-encompassing biography of Anna May Wong should be on everyone's summer reading list. A must for libraries with strong film and pop culture collections." —Library Journal (starred review)
"An intimate Hollywood profile perfect for students of film and pop culture." —Kirkus Reviews
"In a deeply researched and far-reaching biography, professor and award-winning biographer Huang positions Wong's career achievements in America and abroad against the geopolitical challenges of the 1930s... The result is a thorough, multilayered history of the too brief yet impactful life of a pioneering Chinese American woman artist facing racism and sexism in tumultuous times." —Booklist
This information about Daughter of the Dragon was first featured
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Yunte Huang, a Guggenheim Fellow, has taught at Harvard and the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he is a professor of English. The author of Inseparable and the Edgar Award–winning biography Charlie Chan, both National Book Critics Circle Award finalists, Huang speaks frequently about American popular culture. He lives in Santa Barbara.
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