American Life – A Humanistic Perspective of a Chinese Historian

Red and blue appear in stark contrast with one another on the map of America. But the even more profound divide is the alienation in our hearts."

This work is a striking analysis of the struggles faced by American society, written from the perspective of a Chinese professor of history who spent 60 years of his life in the US. As both an insider and outsider to this country, Cho-yun Hsu is able to perceive what many other Americans may take for granted, and it is this viewpoint — together with his decades of experience teaching history at the University of Pittsburgh — that make this work so unusual and worthwhile.

This work analyzes American history through a wide range of topics, including culture, politics, economics, industrialization, class, ethnicity, the urban-rural divide, and more. Expertly analyzing the origins of the tension and conflict between different classes and ethnic groups in American society, this book seeks to offer a way forward from a humanistic perspective, in the hope that American society may be renewed through collective efforts, and find a new path.