Wesley Yang

Yang is a great essayist, no doubt, and covers a lot of territory here, a considerable amount that doesn't have anything directly to do with "yellow folk" or, more generally, race/racism/etc. (Though almost all of which -almost- does have to do with 'identity' from one angle or another; that is a leitmotif in his writing.) To be honest, I'm not sure why the editor/publisher went with the du Bois title (well, maybe to sell more books) and I do understand why some people express disappointment or even anger at what seems like a bait-and-switch.

I think my favorites were... well half the book. "Paper Tigers" and "Eddie Huang Against the World" (which gave me the germ of a thought, still undeveloped, about a certain kind of usually-male distrust-the-universe and fuck-the-unbelievers strain that must have run through Vice Media and points to something common in e.g. Eddit Huang and e.g. Gavin McInnes.), "On Francis Fukuyama" especially. His last section where he begins wrestling with the current progressive orthodoxy, liberalism, etc. are interesting, but not as cohesive... or, maybe, strong? I feel like there is a really compelling essay waiting to be written here but he hasn't yet figured out how to do it.… (altro)