American Peril: The Violent History of Anti-Asian Racism
American Peril: The Violent History of Anti-Asian Racism
Scott Kurashige
UC Press: 2026
Paperback: New
9780520424777
Note: Pre-orders taken for April 7, 2026 release date.
This probing account shines a new light on the problem of anti-Asian violence and inspires us to build lasting solidarity.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, racist demagoguery fomented a campaign of terror against Asian Americans. But these attacks were part of a much longer pattern that made anti-Asian racism integral to the outbreak of white supremacist, misogynist, and colonial violence across 175 years of U.S. history. Written in the radical spirit of Howard Zinn, American Peril represents the culmination of thirty-five years of study and activism by award-winning scholar Scott Kurashige.
From the lynching of Asian immigrants during the exclusion era to the U.S. military's slaughter of Asian civilians, the book connects domestic and global events that have been erased from the official record. Going beyond victimhood, it traces the rise of Asian American community protest and activism in response to the 1982 murder of Vincent Chin and other overlooked tragedies. While many have worked to legislate and prosecute hate crimes, Kurashige argues that hope lies in grassroots activism for multiracial solidarity.
Table of Contents:
ContentsAuthor's NoteIntroductionPart I How America Erased the Violent History of Anti-Asian Raciscm (1850s-1970s)
1 - The Violence of Exclusion
2 - The Violence of Empire
3 - From Mass Incarceration to Mass Murder
4 - How Asian Women Become Targets of Violence
5 - The Violence Beyond VietnamPart II The Murder of Vincen Chin Remade Asian American Identity and Politics (1980s-Present)
6 - Martyr in the Motor City
7 - White Grievance and the Rise of the Counterrevolution
8 - Naming and Confronting Hate Crimes
9 - When the Police Cause More Harm
10 - Building Community in the Face of Violence
EpilogueAcknowledgments
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index
Biographical Note:
Scott Kurashige is author of The Shifting Grounds of Race: Black and Japanese Americans in the Making of Multiethnic Los Angeles and coauthor, with Grace Lee Boggs, of The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century.