The Atlantic

Notes of a Native Tiger Son, Part 2

Breaking down the reasons why Amy Chua's controversial book has sparked so much debate
Source: NIRANJAN SHRESTHA / AP

This post was written by Oliver Wang, who was guest-blogging for Ta-Nehisi Coates.


As I began to describe yesterday, my first reaction to Chua-gate was quite personal and premised in a specifically Asian-American context. But after I tampered down my inner mommy issues, I started to notice: hey ... I get why I care about this...and why other Asian-Americans care...but why does everyone else seem to give a damn?

Seriously, it's been stunning to see how much coverage this book has gotten. When's the last time anyone can remember this much interest in a parenting memoir not written by a celebrity? It's not like Sarah Palin decided to pen Raising Real Americans: Lessons From a Mama Grizzly or anything.

The intention of my first post, before I sidetracked myself, was to probe how Chua's book (and to be more precise, that "extract"has become such a flashpoint in mainstream media (not to mention #4 and rising on Amazon.com). What I'm trying to break down here isn't any single answer, but rather, I'd surmise what we have is heady potpourri of different forces.

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