When Friends Come From Afar
The Remarkable Story of Bernie Wong and Chicago’s Chinese American Service League
An insider’s account of the Chinatown service and activist organization
Cloth – $110
978-0-252-04607-0
Paper – $19.95
978-0-252-08818-6
eBook – $14.95
978-0-252-04730-5
Publication Date
Paperback: 09/10/2024
Cloth: 09/10/2024
Cloth: 09/10/2024
Series: 3 Fields Books
About the Book
Born in Hong Kong, Bernie Wong moved to the United States in the early 1960s to attend college. A decade later, she cofounded the Chinese American Service League (CASL) to help meet the needs of the city’s isolated Chinese immigrants. Susan Blumberg-Kason draws on extensive interviews to profile the community and social justice organization. Weaving Wong’s intimate account of her own life story through the CASL’s larger history, Blumberg-Kason follows the group from its origins to its emergence as a robust social network that connects Chinatown residents to everything from daycare to immigration services to culinary education. Blumberg-Kason also traces CASL activism on issues like fair housing and violence against Asian Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic.At once intimate and broad in scope, When Friends Come from Afar uses one woman’s life to illuminate a bedrock Chicago institution.
About the Author
Susan Blumberg-Kason is the author of Bernardine’s Shanghai Salon: The Story of the Doyenne of Old China and Good Chinese Wife: A Love Affair with China Gone Wrong.Reviews
Blurbs
“When Friends Come from Afar offers an uplifting account of the tireless work Bernie Wong and the cofounders of CASL have done in the service of Chicago’s Chinatown over the last forty-five years. An essential read for social workers and community organizers everywhere.”--Katie Gee Salisbury, author of Not Your China Doll: The Wild and Shimmering Life of Anna May Wong
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