Not Your China Doll
The Wild and Shimmering Life of Anna May Wong
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
“Enlightening, nuanced, and honest.”—Lisa See
Set against the glittering backdrop of Los Angeles during the gin-soaked Jazz Age and the rise of Hollywood, this debut book celebrates Anna May Wong, the first Asian American movie star, to bring an unsung heroine to light and reclaim her place in cinema history.
One of Entertainment Weekly's "Books We Are Excited to Read in 2024"
Before Constance Wu, Sandra Oh, Awkwafina, or Lucy Liu, there was Anna May Wong. In her time, she was a legendary beauty, witty conversationalist, and fashion icon. Plucked from her family’s laundry business in Los Angeles, Anna May Wong rose to stardom in Douglas Fairbanks’s blockbuster The Thief of Bagdad. Fans and the press clamored to see more of this unlikely actress, but when Hollywood repeatedly cast her in stereotypical roles, she headed abroad in protest.
Anna May starred in acclaimed films in Berlin, Paris, and London. She dazzled royalty and heads of state across several nations, leaving trails of suitors in her wake. She returned to challenge Hollywood at its own game by speaking out about the industry’s blatant racism. She used her new stature to move away from her typecasting as the China doll or dragon lady, and worked to reshape Asian American representation in film.
Filled with stories of capricious directors and admiring costars, glamorous parties and far-flung love affairs, Not Your China Doll showcases the vibrant, radical life of a groundbreaking artist.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Freelance book editor Salisbury debuts with a spirited biography of actor Anna May Wong (1905–1961), whom Salisbury credits with introducing "the American public to a compelling vision of Chinese American and Asian American identity at a time when our community visibility was either limited or vilified." Wong was 18 when she filmed her breakout role in the 1924 blockbuster The Thief of Bagdad, but her fame was tainted by Hollywood's endemic racism. She was frequently exoticized on screen (she played a scantily clad "Mongol slave" in Thief) and barred from substantive roles, even when the characters were Asian. (When MGM adapted Pearl S. Buck's novel The Good Earth, which follows the lives of Chinese peasant farmers, producers claimed Wong didn't have enough star power and selected white actor Luise Rainer for the female lead.) Wong also had to grapple with the Chinese community's ambivalent feelings about her success. On a tour of China in the mid-1930s, she was by turns cheered by adoring fans and admonished by journalists for perpetuating stereotypes. Though Salisbury covers the tragic aspects of Wong's life (she struggled with alcoholism and died of a heart attack at age 56), this biography emphasizes its subject's grit and perseverance in carving out a niche in an industry inhospitable to actors of color. It's a rousing testament to Wong's talents. Photos.