"American Chinatown" looks at the Chinese American experience from the early days of Chinese immigration to the United States until the present day. The lens for this exploration are the stories of residents and visitors to five Chinatowns: San Francisco; New York; Los Angeles; Hawaii; and Las Vegas.

I enjoyed this book, but author Bonnie Tsui is wrangling so much material that the story lines can seem disjointed and herky-jerky. That said, "American Chinatown" presented perspectives I'd never considered -- and I've read a lot of Chinatown history.

I'd recommend for those interested in learning more about the life of cities, the history of the Chinese in America, and/or American history. ( )