The Making of Asian America: A History

Erika Lee (b. 1970) is an American historian, an award-winning author, and a descendent of Chinese immigrants. She specializes in Asian-American history and immigration history. Lee is the Rudolph J. Vecoli Chair in Immigration History as well as the University of Minnesota’s Director of the Immigration History Research Center.

Lee grew up in California. She received her undergraduate degree from Tufts University. The author went on to attend the University of California, Berkeley, where she earned a Ph.D. in history. She received several awards for her work from such organizations as the Association for Asian American Studies and the Ethnic History Society.

In addition to The Making of Asian America: A History (2015), Lee wrote At America’s Gates: Chinese Immigration during the Exclusion Era, 1882-1943 (2003); Angel Island: Immigrant Gateway to America (2010) with Judy Yung, her co-author; and America for Americans: A History of Xenophobia in the United States (2021). Her books have won several awards. For example, The Making of Asian America: A History earned the 2015 Asian Pacific American Award for Literature from the American Library Association and was “Editor’s Choice” for the New York Times.