Center News

By PATRICIA NELSON LIMERICK

DRIVEN OUT

Thinking realistically about the history of the American West easily lands on the list of this nation’s top 10 least favorite pastimes. Hundreds of historians have invested their life force in pointing out the inaccuracies in the image of the 19th-century West as a place of colorful romance and innocent adventure. “No thanks,” the believers reliably respond. “We like our version a lot better.”

Now, Jean Pfaelzer steps forward as a fresh reinforcement in this morale-draining campaign. In “Driven Out: The Forgotten War Against Chinese Americans,” she tells the story of the “thousands of Chinese people who were violently herded onto railroad cars, steamers or logging rafts, marched out of town or killed,” (Read on …)