Adult

• AMERICA FOR AMERICANS: A HISTORY OF XENOPHOBIA IN THE UNITED STATES

  by Erika Lee

  The United States is known as a nation of immigrants. But it is also a nation of xenophobia. In America for Americans, Erika Lee shows that an irrational fear, hatred, and hostility toward immigrants has been a defining feature of our nation from the colonial era to the Trump era.

• At America’s Gates: Chinese Immigration during the Exclusion Era, 1882-1943

  by Erika Lee
  Drawing on a rich trove of historical sources—including immigration records, oral histories, and letters—Lee explores how Chinese exclusion laws not only transformed Chinese American lives, immigration patterns, identities, and families but also recast the United States into a “gatekeeping nation.”
  
  

• Ching Ling Foo: America’s First Chinese Superstar

  by Samuel D. Porteous
  This book documents the story of Chinese magician Ching Ling Foo's obstacle laden rise to unprecedented fame. Considered the greatest illusionist ever seen on American soil, along with his talented family of musicians and acrobats, Ching Ling Foo overcame on stage attacks, deportation attempts, homeland tragedy, and a talented American copycat to make an indelible impact on American popular culture.
  
  

• Immigration at the Golden Gate: Passenger Ships, Exclusion, and Angel Island

  by Robert Eric Barde
  Barde examines the history of Asian passenger steamship travel and immigration through Angel Island.  The voices of a century ago—of exclusion, bureaucratic and judicial nightmares, fear of foreigners and their diseases, and moral ambiguity and uncertainty—all echo to the present day.
  
  

• Images of America: Angel Island

  by Bramwell Fanning and William Wong
  This photo history book has an extensive chapter on the history of the immigration station and on AIISF's efforts to preserve the site.

• Miwoks to Missiles: A History of Angel Island

  by John Soennichsen
  This book covers over two hundred years of the island’s history, from the Miwok Indians and Spanish explorers to the U.S. military, establishment of the immigration station, and transition into a state park. The author’s use of historic photographs and personal recollections bring the island and its people to life.
  
  

• Making and Remaking Asian America Through Immigration Policy, 1850-1990

  by Bill Ong Hing
  This is the first comprehensive study of how U.S. immigration policies have shaped - demographically, economically, and socially - the six largest Asian American communities: Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Asian Indian.
  
  

• The Making of Asian America: A History

  by Erika Lee
  A “comprehensive…fascinating” (The New York Times Book Review) history of Asian Americans and their role in American life, by one of the nation’s preeminent scholars on the subject.
  
  

• Voices of Angel Island: Inscriptions and Immigrant Poetry, 1910-1945

  by Charles Egan
  Voices of Angel Island includes chapters on Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and European/other immigrants, as well as World War II detainees.  Inscriptions from the island are augmented by literary materials from local ethnic newspapers and other sources.

Young Adult (Ages 12+)

• The Chinese American Family Album

  by Dorothy & Thomas Hoobler
  This resource traces the experiences of Chinese Americans using historic photographs, diary selections, letters, oral histories, and newspaper articles. The section on Angel Island includes poems and oral histories from former detainees.
  
  

• The Chinese Exclusion Act and Angel Island

  by Judy Yung
  The Chinese Exclusion Act and Angel Island will introduce students to a broader and more inclusive vision of U.S. immigration history and, ultimately, a better understanding of the world we live in.
  
  

• The Dragon’s Child: A Story of Angel Island

  by Laurence & Kathleen S. Yep
  Based on the author’s family history and research at the National Archives, this is the story of ten-year-old Gim Lew’s journey from his village in China to America and his trepidation about passing the grueling test at Angel Island.
  
  

• The Japanese American Family Album

  by Dorothy & Thomas Hoobler
  This resource documents the lives of Japanese Americans, including their stay at Angel Island, through their diaries, letters, interviews, photos, newspaper articles, and personal reflections.

• The Real History of Angel Island

  by Carol Kim
  People often learn about Ellis Island when they are taught the history of immigration in the US. However, many people also came through Angel Island. Discover the history of the Angel Island Immigration Station. (Grades 4 - 8)

Children (Ages 4 - 11)

• Angel Island: Gateway to Gold Mountain

  by Russell Freedman
  Newberry Medal winner Freedman presents a thorough history of the immigration station in historical context, with many excellent photographs interspersed with poetry. (Ages 10 - 11)
  
  

• Good Fortune: My Journey to Gold Mountain

  by Li Keng Wong
  Wong, a former detainee and teacher, shares the story of her journey to the United States from China through the Angel Island Immigration Station, and her family’s life in Oakland Chinatown. (Ages 8 – 11)

• LI ON ANGEL ISLAND

  by Veeda Bybee (Smithsonian Historical Fiction)
  Li, her mother, and her brother journey from China to America to join their father in San Francisco. But they are detained at the Angel Island immigration center, where Chinese Americans are subject to harsh treatment and questioning.
  
  

• Landed

  by Milly Lee (illustrated by Yangsook Choi)
  In this picture book for children, Lee draws upon her father-in-law’s experience to tell the story of a Chinese immigrant boy coming through Angel Island to join his father in America. (Ages 7 – 11)
  
  

• The Magical Imperfect

  by Chris Baron (Feiwel & Friends)
  Set against the backdrop of the 1989 San Francisco earthquake in a town of refugees who came to America via Angel Island, The Magical Imperfect tells the story of deep family connections and finding empathy in the most difficult and unexpected places. (Ages 9 - 12)
  
  

• Paper Son: Lee’s Journey to America

  by Helen Foster James and Virginia Shin-Mui Loh (illustrated by Wilson Ong)
  James and Loh tell the story of twelve-year old Lee, who leaves his family to come to America as a paper son and is questioned on Angel Island. (Ages 7 - 11)