Charlie Chan

Reviews

"That rarest of treats: a work of exhaustively researched popular history that reads like a dime-store romance." — Pico Iyer, Time

"A great delight of Huang’s quirky, smart, and entertaining book is his sleuthing out the real story behind Charlie Chan.…Huang’s history is bracing and expansive." — Jill Lepore, The New Yorker

"You don’t need to be a fan of Charlie’s to enjoy Huang’s narrative, maybe because he’s told so many stories here, all of them intriguing." — Malcolm Jones, Newsweek

"An astute and engaging cultural history. Huang’s deeper point is indisputable. Charlie Chan is an entirely American creation and an entirely American story. To know him is to know ourselves." — Richard Bernstein, New York Review of Books

"An involving, groundbreaking and far-reaching inquiry.…[A] scintillating, provocative work of discovery, a voyage into racial stereotyping and the humanizing force of storytelling…deeply personal." — Donna Seaman, Los Angeles Times

"Huang gives a full account of a life that was in many ways more interesting than the fictional version.…The most interesting story in Charlie Chan is Mr. Huang’s own." — Charles McGrath, New York Times

"A heady mixture of scholarship, essay and memoir.…As wide-ranging as it is enthralling.…A terrifically enjoyable and informative book, one that should appeal to both students of racial history and to fans of one of cinema’s greatest detectives." — Michael Dirda, Washington Post

"A loving look at a figure not loved by all." — William Wong, San Francisco Chronicle

"A kind of quadruple biography of the characters who inspired, created, and popularized the fictional Chinese detective.…Huang’s enthusiasm for his characters lends the book a sense of exploratory excitement." — Benjamin Moser, Harper’s

"[Charlie Chan] is an astute blend between biography and cultural criticism as Huang analyzes how Chan served as a crucial counterpoint to stereotypical Chinese villains in early Hollywood." — Adam Morgan, Esquire