AS THE THIRD and final installment of my trilogy, “Rendezvous with America,” this book marks a milestone in my pursuit of the Asian American story in the making of American culture. Along this lengthy, at times difficult, journey, I have been fortunate to have Bob Weil as my editor and inspirational guide. I am surely no Dante, but Bob—with his vision, acumen, erudition, and genuine care for his authors—is truly a modern-day Virgil in this still-divine comedy called “literature.”
I am also deeply grateful to Glenn Mott, my agent and best friend. It is not hyperbole to say that, without his help, these three books—Charlie Chan, Inseparable, and Daughter of the Dragon—would not have existed. As I turn a new page in my career, I am comforted by the thought that I can always count on his friendship and counsel.
I also wish to thank Haley Bracken at Liveright for her excellent editorial guidance; Cordelia Calvert for her enduring enthusiasm for the book; Hangping Xu and Chunmei Du for reading the manuscript and sharing their expertise; Annie Fu and Richard Song for research assistance; Wendy Sun for her help with German texts; Marjorie Perloff, Charles Bernstein, and Hank Lazer for their mentorship and emotional support; Graham Hodges for his pioneering work on Anna May Wong, as well as his generosity over the years; and Deidre Lynch for the Emily Dickinson gem.
The following people at various institutions have also most ably and generously assisted me in accessing precious images and research materials: John Cahoon at Seaver Center for Western History Research; Daniel Keough at Hoover Institution Library and Archives, Stanford University; Sharon Yang at Harvard-Yenching Library, Harvard University; Melissa Barton at Beinecke Library, Yale University; Jia Junying at China Film Archives, Beijing; Michele Hadlow at Everett Collection; Terri Garst at Los Angeles Public Library; and Jamie Carstairs at Special Collections, University of Bristol, UK.
It is my good fortune to have again had Kathleen Brandes as a gatekeeper of my writing, a superb copyeditor who always goes beyond her call of duty to turn the manuscript into a much better book.
When COVID-19 first broke out in January 2020, I was only a few hundred miles away from Wuhan, the epicenter of the pandemic, visiting my family for the Chinese New Year. On that wintry day when I said good-bye to them—my mother in her seventies, my wife JZ, and our three-year-old son Henry—I had no idea that I would not be able to see them for a very long time. While interminable lockdowns, quarantines, closed borders, canceled flights, and invalidated visas have defined the past three years of our lives, and the day of reunion remains elusive, I wish to express my gratitude to JZ and Henry, still stuck in China, for the love and strength they send daily from afar. I am also grateful to Isabelle and Ira, two vivacious youngsters now pursuing their own dreams, who have always been part of whatever journey I have been taking.