Opening the Gates to Asia

“Hong masterfully chronicles how, over the course of less than a century, a transpacific movement transformed the United States from a country that barred Asians from immigration and citizenship to the nation that receives more immigrants from Asia than anywhere else in the world.”—California History

“Broadly researched and insightful . . . This monograph will . . . speak to scholars concerned with migration, international relations, and immigration policy studies.”—Journal of Asian Studies

“Hong’s efforts to expand the history of Asian exclusion and its repeal have resulted in a significant work. It is a must read for any scholar interested in American immigration history.”—Southern California Quarterly

“Jane Hong’s persuasive and crisply written book traces repeal efforts to overturn Asian exclusion in US immigration policy. . . . It very effectively and carefully illuminates the contributions of both ordinary and better-known Asians and Asian Americans in their battles for racial and civic inclusion. Hong’s book is an indispensable resource for anyone interested in Asian American struggles for equality.”—Journal of American Ethnic History

“By exploring the nuances and negotiations that took place among Asian Americans, Asian nationalists, and white elites in Washington, Hong provides both a forthright critique of the limits of American racial liberalism as well as a far richer understanding of repeal.”—Pacific Historical Review

“Hong advances the history of the repeal of Asian exclusion in the US beyond its longstanding pre—WW II focus on China and Japan. . . . As the author mines public and private research sources across the Pacific, she keenly elucidates these questions and hints that this is merely part of a much larger analysis of post—WW II immigration.”—CHOICE

“Jane Hong offers an impressive examination of the multiple forces that shaped America’s repeal of Asian exclusion, and adds depth and nuance to U.S. immigration history, braiding it with the history of U.S. diplomacy and civil rights. By investigating the dismantling of the Asian exclusion regime, Hong refines understandings about the United States’s growing internationalism and underscores its transpacific shift during the early twentieth century.” —Cindy I-Fen Cheng, University of Wisconsin-Madison

“This book contains compelling analysis, astute observations, and a number of new and important sources. Hong makes intriguing and complex arguments while tracing the complicated transpacific struggle for repealing exclusion.” —Charlotte Brooks, Baruch College

“Opening the Gates to Asia is a stunning and original work that offers a comprehensive analysis of how the United States liberalized its exclusionary immigration policy. Jane Hong emphasizes the significance of the global and the international by foregrounding U.S. empire (as it transformed from a formal to an informal one), the influence of Asian and Asian American political actors within an expansive geography, and a comparative understanding of civil rights and social movements. This book, based on extensive archival research, brings into conversation disparate fields of study to offer a transpacific analysis of the intertwining of U.S. imperial and immigration policies.” —Judy Tzu-Chun Wu, University of California, Irvine