This book examines the recent American cultural and literary preoccupation with Asia, exploring the corresponding historical-political situations - including China's Cultural Revolution and Japanese geisha culture - that have both circumscribed and enabled greater cultural and political contact between Asia and America. "In this valuable addition to scholarship on Asian American literature in a transnational context, Grice (Univ. of Wales, Aberystwyth) investigates four "shrouded histories of 20th century Asia"--memoirs by women of Communist China, Chinese transracial adoption narratives, literature on the geisha of Japan, and Korean expatriate narratives--that help to produce a new global imaginary by both disrupting and exceeding concepts of identity and nationhood. Recommended." --Choice. "Grice insightfully and sensitively analyzes hundreds of texts from multiple Asian cultures and in several genres, making this volume a valuable addition to several disciplines, including American studies, ethnic studies, literary studies, and diaspora studies."-- David S. Goldstein, University of Washington, Bothell