In the last year or two, I inadvertently became a giant fan of the Patrick Radden Keefe, as this is now the fourth of his books I've reviewed. I also recently enjoyed a great podcast of his titled Wind of Change, which I highly recommend. As I've really been enjoying his recent work, I thought I'd go back and pick up one of his earlier books, written over a decade ago. The Snakehead was an engaging and interesting book, but I didn't find it as strong as his more recent efforts.
As you may not be able to tell by it's extended title, this book is mostly about illegal Chinese immigration in America, peaking the '90s and 2000s. This book goes into great depth, sharing more about the push factors leading to thousands leaving China and the significant increase in criminal activity helping to find pathways to hep these immigrants to America.
The book was similar to many others I've read by Radden Keefe - focused on criminal elements while providing a superb explanation of complexity. This introduced a variety of content that was quite new to me, so I appreciated how easy it was to access. Perhaps most interesting was simply the story at the heart of the book: the desperate plight people are willing to go through to land in America. Until reading a book like this, I truly had no idea how much people are/were willing to endure to be in the USA.
I also learned much more about China, Chinatown (in NYC), the criminal element, and immigration policies. The latter is especially topical now with all that is going with ICE and other government agencies currently in our country. Perhaps most stark were the descriptions of differences between the lives that many have in other countries and the opportunities that are present in America. This book certainly made me realize just how much we often take for granted when we are born American.
While I liked many parts of this book, I struggled with a few areas. Perhaps most notable was the length and depth of this book. I was thinking on multiple occasions how this book would have been better served by a more willful editor (this was not something I recall thinking with this other books). Besides the nearly 70+ pages of footnotes, I found multiple chapters simply too long or not necessary at all to deliver the most crucial aspects of
the story. In the last third, the book really turned from being a story about a few key characters to, almost a textbook style, dedicated to explaining and detailing varying aspects of America's immigration policy. My other challenge with the book is simply the number of characters he covered. Again, illustrating the point about needing a good editor, it was hard to follow all the threads throughout the the story.
Overall, this is a super, albeit long book that really does provide an interesting slice of history detailing illegal immigration from China in the early part of this century. While I found it more complicated than necessary, I still found much of the book fascinating and a rich read. I certainly recommend for those who enjoy this author.
