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The Snakehead: An Epic Tale Of The Chinatown Underworld And The American Dream (2009)

by Patrick Radden Keefe(Favorite Author)

3.94 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0385521308 (ISBN13: 9780385521307)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Doubleday

review 1: One of the most exciting non-fiction books I've ever read; it's almost insane when you realise everything in this book occurred within THIS generation. When you think of a rusty fishing boat crashing on to the shores of Rockaway, filled to the brim with hundreds of illegal Chinese immigrants, you'd most likely think of 1893, not 1993! This is one of those times where truth is stranger than fiction, and gives us a rare look in to the underground dealings of a very insular community. The star Snakehead of the book, Sister Ping, is so clever that though she is clearly exploiting her fellow people, she somehow remains incredibly admirable throughout her career. It's easy to find yourself rooting for the smugglers and gangsters to win over the cops. The added cool-factor ... moreis living blocks from New York's Chinatown and knowing all the locations the book mentions. Highly, highly recommended.
review 2: Fascinating book about smuggling immigrants from China to the US. The book is very well written. It uses the tragedy of the Golden Venture, a ship of immigrants that dramatically sunk off the coast of NYC, to explore the entire snakehead business of human smuggling: masterminds whose sophisticated networks spanned the globe, Chinatown gangsters who supported the business as side jobs, various government agents who worked to break it up, lawyers, activists, and bureaucrats who tried to keep the immigrants in or out of the country, and the immigrants themselves.I can’t imagine how many interviews the author most have conducted in order to gather so manystories, but he explores the dangers, motivations, techniques, and consequences of this trade throughthe voices of prominent and ordinary people who were involved. Their voices constantly gave me newperspectives on this very complicated issue.Occasionally got a little long as I lost the thread of the story in political issues, but overall fascinating. less

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