Mahjong A Chinese Game And The Making Of Modern American Culture Annelise Heinz by Annelise Heinz 9780190081799, 0190081791 instant download after payment.

Click-click-click. The sound of mahjong tiles connects American expatriates in Shanghai, Jazz Age white Americans, urban Chinese Americans in the 1930s, incarcerated Japanese Americans in wartime, Jewish American suburban mothers, & Air Force officers' wives in the postwar era.

Mahjong: A Chinese Game & the Making of Modern American Culture illustrates how the spaces between tiles & the moments between games have fostered distinct social cultures in the United States. This mass-produced game crossed the Pacific, creating waves of popularity over the twentieth century.

Annelise Heinz narrates the history of this game to show how it has created a variety of meanings, among them American modernity, Chinese American heritage, & Jewish American women's culture. As it traveled from China to the United States & caught on with Hollywood starlets, high society, middle-class housewives, & immigrants alike, mahjong became a quintessentially American game. 

Heinz also reveals the ways in which women leveraged a game to gain access to respectable leisure. The result was the forging of friendships that lasted decades & the creation of organizations that raised funds for the war effort & philanthropy. No other game has signified both belonging & standing apart in American culture.

Drawing on photographs, advertising, popular media, & dozens of oral histories, Heinz's rich & colorful account offers the first history of the wildly popular game of mahjong.

Annelise Heinz is an assistant professor of history at the University of Oregon. Her work has been featured on National Public Radio & international Chinese television. She has lived & played mahjong in the United States & Southwestern China.