A Different Mirror for Young People: A History of Multicultural America

The groundbreaking multicultural history of America, adapted for younger readers, now in a revised and updated edition with 100 pages of new material.

“An excellent way to include multi-ethnic materials in the classroom as a way to ensure that your students see their unique identities reflected in their coursework.” —Skipping Stones

In Ronald Takaki's multicultural masterwork, the story of America includes the Native, African, Irish, Jewish, Asian, and Latino people—and many more—who made America their home, and who often fought for rights now enjoyed by all. A Different Mirror for Young People is widely hailed as the most important resource to “teach [Americans] to value the nation's inescapable diversity" (New York Times Book Review) and has been adopted into middle and high school curricula around the country.

With three new chapters and revisions throughout, University of Illinois professor A. Naomi Paik brings this “brilliant revisionist history” (Publishers Weekly) into the 21st century. The new material examines growing inequality in the U.S., the intensifying War on Terror that further targets and marginalizes immigrants, and, in the uplifting spirit of the original book, the emergence of social movements including land and water protections and migrant justice movements.

Drawing on Takaki's vast array of primary sources, and staying true to his own words whenever possible, A Different Mirror for Young People brings ethnic history alive through the words of people, including teenagers, who recorded their experiences in letters, diaries, and poems. Like Howard Zinn's A People's History, another title in the For Young People series, Takaki's A Different Mirror offers a rich and rewarding "people's view" perspective on the American story.

"The 'mirror' that Ronald Takaki holds up to the United States reflects a multicultural history of oppression and exploitation, but also struggle, solidarity, and community. In the most profound sense, this is a people's history of our country. Takaki shows what has torn us apart, yet what knits us together." —Bill Bigelow, curriculum editor, Rethinking Schools, and co-director, Zinn Education Project

Story Locale:United States

Series Overview: The For Young People series includes critically acclaimed and bestselling adaptations of award-winning books by Ronald Takaki, Jared Diamond, Charles C. Mann, and Howard Zinn, and numerous other acclaimed writers and historians, all adapted  for young readers by Rebecca Stefoff.