Review: Koreatown, Los Angeles: Immigration, Race, and the “American Dream”, by Shelley Sang-Hee Lee

Abstract

Book Review| February 01 2023 Review: Koreatown, Los Angeles: Immigration, Race, and the “American Dream”, by Shelley Sang-Hee Lee Shelley Sang-Hee Lee. Koreatown, Los Angeles: Immigration, Race, and the “American Dream.” Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2022. 216 pp. Paperback $26.00. Elwing Suong Gonzalez Elwing Suong Gonzalez ELWING SUONG GONZALEZ teaches U.S. history at Rio Hondo College. She is also a middle school teacher, artist, and historian who has researched and published work on Vietnamese refugee resettlement and on immigration and demographic changes in Los Angeles. Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar California History (2023) 100 (1): 101–103. https://doi.org/10.1525/ch.2023.100.1.101 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Elwing Suong Gonzalez; Review: Koreatown, Los Angeles: Immigration, Race, and the “American Dream”, by Shelley Sang-Hee Lee. California History 1 February 2023; 100 (1): 101–103. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/ch.2023.100.1.101 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentCalifornia History Search In an age of liberal multiculturalism, globalization, and neoliberalism, the role of the ethnic immigrant enclave has shifted from previous iterations as restricted ghetto or landing pad for socially marginalized groups. Shelley Sang-Hee Lee’s Koreatown, Los Angeles explores the creation and growth of a relatively recently established ethnic enclave, one that exists as both a geographic location and a symbolic place within a racially and ethnically diverse urban landscape. Using the histories of Korean immigration to the United States, post–World War II social and demographic changes, and L.A.’s makeover and ascent to major “global city,” Lee examines the specific story of L.A.’s Koreatown and poses questions about how ethnic spaces are developed, for whom, and at what cost. Lee’s work shifts back and forth between macro-level structural and systemic forces and inequalities and the day-to-day lived experiences and local-level efforts of individuals who shaped Korean immigrant settlement and placemaking in... You do not currently have access to this content.