To me, this bias rests in the credit given to “white Europeans” in the founding and shaping of America. To say Takaki has bias is an obvious statement, a bias towards who or what is the real question. However, through this alternative look of America’s history and the outcomes and consequences of manifest destiny and the master narrative, I do find myself asking questions and wondering why he decided to tell this story from this perspective. Native Americans, Italian Americans, Jewish Americans, Japanese and Chinese Americans, Irish Americans, Mexican Americans, and most of all African Americans all played a pivotal role in the development of American History. Takaki’s emphasis is on an alternative narrative that really sinks its feet into the idea of a multicultural America portraying all cultures and their own personal backgrounds that led them to the new world. However, A Different Mirror ventures in a different direction, one that looks at the History of America from the viewpoint of those who immigrated here and dedicated their lives to become citizens despite the trials and prejudice that lay before them.

Previously, when studying American history, the main idea rests on the settling of America as a new land and the portrayal of its possibilities and opportunities by the Europeans.

Takaki’s vision of America as a functioning society in times leading up to, during, and preceding the “transformation” of America is told through a very different approach. This new edition of A Different Mirror is a remarkable achievement that grapples with the raw truth of American history and examines the ultimate question of what it means to be an American.A Different Mirror by Ronald Takaki takes us through the history of America using a unique point of view.

A look at the sudden visibility of Muslim refugees from Afghanistan.

An investigation into the hot-button issue of 'illegal' immigrants from Mexico.

The history of Chinese Americans from 1900-1941.

The role of black soldiers in preserving the Union.

Now, Ronald Takaki has revised his landmark work and made it even more relevant and important. Beginning with the colonization of the New World, it recounted the history of America in the voice of the non-Anglo peoples of the United States–Native Americans, African Americans, Jews, Irish Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, and others–groups who helped create this country's rich mosaic culture.

Upon its first publication, A Different Mirror was hailed by critics and academics everywhere as a dramatic new retelling of our nation's past. Ronald Takaki's beloved classic is a 'brilliant revisionist history of America' ( Publishers Weekly) that dramatically retells our nation's story from the perspective of minorities.