Garden of the World: Asian Immigrants and the Making of Agriculture in California’s Santa Clara Valley (Oxford University Press, 2013) explores the ways in which Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino immigrants transformed agricultural practices along with ideologies of race and American national identity from 1880 to 1940 in a region once celebrated around the world for its horticultural productivity, now commonly known as “Silicon Valley.” 

It explores the history of overlapping waves of Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino immigration, examining how the participation of Asian immigrants in agriculture challenged, modified, and consolidated the white family farm ideal. It additionally uncovers an intricate world of rural intra-Asian relations characterized by interethnic cooperation and conflict against the omnipresence of white racism.

Access the book at Oxford University Press.