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    The Souls of Yellow Folk: Essays
    The Souls of Yellow Folk: Essays
    The Souls of Yellow Folk: Essays
    Audiobook6 hours

    The Souls of Yellow Folk: Essays

    Written by Wesley Yang

    Narrated by David Shih

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    One of the most acclaimed essayists of his generation, Wesley Yang writes about race and sex without the jargon, formulas, and polite lies that bore us all. His powerful debut, The Souls of Yellow Folk, does more than collect a decade's worth of cult-reputation essays-it corrals new American herds of pickup artists, school shooters, mandarin zombies, and immigrant strivers, and exposes them to scrutiny, empathy, and polemical force.

    In his celebrated and prescient essay "The Face of Seung-Hui Cho," Yang explores the deranged logic of the Virginia Tech shooter. In his National Magazine Award-winning "Paper Tigers," he explores the intersection of Asian values and the American dream, and the inner torment of the child exposed to "tiger mother" parenting. And in his close reading of New York Magazine's popular Sex Diaries, he was among the first critics to take seriously today's Internet-mediated dating lives.

    Yang catches these ugly trends early because he has felt at various times implicated in them, and he does not exempt himself from his radical honesty. His essays retain the thrill of discovery, the wary eye of the first explorer, and the rueful admission of the first exposed.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateNov 13, 2018
    ISBN9781977383488
    The Souls of Yellow Folk: Essays

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    Reviews for The Souls of Yellow Folk

    4/5

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    • 3/5
      I was disappointed by the content based on the title; I was hoping for a curation of essays speaking to the Asian and Asian American experience, but by and large was mostly a collection of personal interviews and puff pieces from the last decade. There were several interesting stories, but I feel misled by my expectations of the book.
    • 4/5
      The Face of Seung-Hui Cho - The author explains his conflicting emotions around being asked to write about an Asian mass shooter. He is repelled by the silent implication that he and this killer have something in common while simultaneously being struck profoundly by their similarities. He uses this premise as a platform to discuss the place of the Asian man in modern America. He does discuss the crime, but he also discusses the racial and social implications and drives behind it.Paper Tigers - The author dives into the complex racial issues surrounding being a person of Asian decent in the American marketplace. He discusses the "Bamboo Ceiling" in many corporations and the causes of it. He also looks at various schemes and strategies sold by entrepreneurs to combat this issue.Eddie Huang Against the World - The controversial figure of Eddie Huang is discussed at length. The author interviews Eddie and provides background on his rise to fame and some of his greatest disappointments.The Life and Afterlife of Aaron Swartz - Aaron Swartz was a young man with an amazing flair for programming, hacking, and new technologies. He became a very active hacktivist, taking on JSTOR and other similar for-profit entities that have essentially locked knowledge and culture behind a payment wall. Eventually, he was sued by the government and faced serious, punishing charges for victim-less crimes committed by most people of his generation. Driven to desperation by his situation, he killed himself. This essay delves into his life, ideals, and the causes of his tragic death.The Liveliest Mind in New York - A brief biography of Tony Judt who continued to write prolifically after being diagnosed with ALS. The Terrorist Search Engine - A fascinating article about how the internet is being used to track and catch terrorists before they strike. How can law enforcement harness terrorism blogs, boards, and chat rooms to combat threats to security both abroad and at home. At the focal point of this article is one man who uncovered these public spaces where terrorists discuss their ideas and make threats.On Francis Fukuyama - Thoughts about and interviews with a very influential political thinker.Inside the Box - A reflection upon technology and the way it has changed our connection to culture, pleasure, and connection.On Reading the Sex Diaries - Asked to read over 800 pages of a "sex diary" column and give broad analysis of the state of dating in New York City, the author provides a fascinating look into the intimate lives of modern people. How has technology effected the way that people meet, connect, have sex, and fall in love? Are these changes helping or hurting and can anything be done about it now? Game Theory - The author does a deep dive into the world of pick-up artists and their rise to prominence in the early 2000s.We Out Here - An essays that examines the complex world of internal biases that feed institution racism and racial inequality. Is It Okay to Be White? - An examination of the evolution of white supremacist rhetoric by examining a case study of the prankish placement of protest signs that say "It's Okay to be White." Borrowing from the Black Lives Matter movement, racist organizations have begun to modify their marketing to better capture mainstream audiences.What Is White Supremacy? - An examination of the changing definition of White Supremacy and its invasion of the American culture.This collection of essays is thought-provoking and contemplative. Don't rush through this one, there's a lot to consider!
    • 5/5
      Great read. I have followed Wang for a while but he’s extremely smart and great at tearing problems apart.
    • 3/5
      Only the first few chapters and the last two relate to South Asian experiences in North American cultural settings. The title does not reflect the substance of the book.
    • 3/5
      I was disappointed by the content based on the title; I was hoping for a curation of essays speaking to the Asian and Asian American experience, but by and large was mostly a collection of personal interviews and puff pieces from the last decade. There were several interesting stories, but I feel misled by my expectations of the book.
    • 5/5
      Excellent narration. Essays range form poor to very good.
    • 4/5
      “In an age characterized by the politics of resentment, the Asian man knows something of the resentment of the embattled white man, besieged on all sides by grievances and demands for reparation, and something of the resentments of the rising social-justice warrior, who feels with every fiber of their being that all that stands in the way of the attainment of their thwarted ambitions is nothing so much as a white man. Tasting of the frustrations of both, he is denied the entitlements of either."What a good book Wesley Yang's collection is. His insights are sometimes unsettling; at other times they're darkly hilarious. I don't agree with all of Yang's arguments, but I was glad to be along for the ride nevertheless. This is a thought-provoking book that relentlessly challenges our complacency. It's also an impressively wide-ranging collection -- there doesn't seem to be any subject that Yang can't write on successfully. He ventures into surprising and unexpected places, and he's consistently clever and entertaining.I had previously read "The Face of Seung-Hui Cho," Yang's provocative essay about the Virginia Tech shooter. The other pieces were new to me. My favorite was "The Liveliest Mind in New York," about Tony Judt, a historian I admire very much. Other high points for me were: "On Reading the Sex Diaries" and "Eddie Huang Against the World." This is an uneven but strong collection. It's also a collection with coherence. Like all good collections, the essays here work together to provide a whole that is even stronger than the sum of its parts. And it's a collection that couldn't be more relevant for our divisive times and the crazy pop-culture world we live in.Lastly, the narration by David Shih is excellent. His style was pleasing on my ear, and he got Yang's wit and humor (and anger) just right.Strongly recommended.(Thank you to W. W. Norton and Tantor Audio for a complimentary copy in exchange for an unbiased review.)
    • 4/5
      Great perspectives and well-discussed themes of racial identity and America's obsession with race and racism, that prefaces the Asian realities in dealing with being POC's or Persons of Color in an America in which African American slavery and continued denouncement of contributions lend itself to voices in America of Asian descent.