Back in February, as I began to read my way through Black History month, I swore to myself that I was going to do the same thing for the other history and heritage months this year as a small way of shaking my fist at the current attacks on studying/teaching/valuing diversity.* Now it’s Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage month and I’m setting off on a new reading adventure. I will admit going in, I have no clue.

I had obvious choices in February: I simply pulled books from the To-Be-Read shelves and told stories that I had been hoarding. May is less clear. There are no books on my shelf. There are no books on my list. And I feel like I don’t know much.

Here are the historical bits I know something about:

• Chinese laborers on the transcontinental railroad
• Japanese internment camps in World War II
• South East Asian refugees into the United States at the end of the Vietnam War.
• Changes at various times in immigration law

I know even less about the history of Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.

Looking at that list, and at the lumpy, portmanteau nature of the month itself, I think that part of the problem is that this is a story of different groups, with different histories. It may well be that the common thread is immigration law.

I’m starting with a Big Fat History Book that looks at the histories of Asian Americans as a whole. We’ll see where it takes me. In the meantime, if you have books to recommend, please let me know.***

*As I sit down to write this, I learn that I missed Arab-American history month in April because I didn’t know it existed. Which in some ways sums up the need for such months. I’ve marked my editorial calendar for 2026.

**There will be a couple of interruptions for Q & As with authors who have books coming out in May.

***To be clear, I’m always happy to learn about a good book, but I’m not actively looking for books about Asian history to read this month. I have plenty of those on the shelves.

***

To start us off, here’s an article from the Washington Post about the children who came to American as part of  the Vietnam War’s “Operation Baby Lift” Hard to believe it’s been fifty years!