By comparing the history of the Chinese and Italians in the U.S., he is able to analyze many aspects of the Chinese immigrant experience. While aware of the influence of cultural heritage and the discrimination against the Chinese, Wang does not believe that they have much explanatory value. Instead, by viewing immigrants as rational actors making conscious decisions, the author offers persuasive arguments as to why the Chinese engaged in sojourning from the 1850s to the 1940s, and why they decided to remain after the 1950s. He also notes that the contrasting ethnic economies of the Italians and the Chinese determined residential patterns, receptivity to union membership, and whether kin and regional ties declined or not. Tightly reasoned and stimulating to read, Wang’s important book is accessible to general audiences and all academic levels.”

Franklin Ng, California State University, Fresno, Choice Reviews

Surviving the City makes many significant contributions to American ethnic studies. Wang has offered a new set of origins and conceptual tools to work with so that scholars of Race and Ethnicity can now remake not only Chinese American history, but perhaps all ethnic American histories.

Andrew An Ho, University of Washington, International Migration Review

In this path breaking work, Xinyang Wang explores the lives and labor of Chinese immigrants in New York City over nearly a century. Rather than examining the Chinese in isolation, he insightfully compares them to Italian immigrants. The book argues that economic factors, including occupational structures and ethnic enclaves, powerfully shaped immigrant experiences. Without neglecting the importance of nativism and racial discrimination, Wang demonstrates the complex multicausal factors that shaped the very different labor histories of Chinese and Italian workers. This is an important work that will be useful for both students and scholars of immigration and labor history.

Julie Greene, University of Maryland