October 1, 2023
As evidenced by Yunte Huang's biography Daughter of the Dragon and Gail Tsukiyama's novel The Brightest Star, both published in 2023, Anna May Wong is beginning to get her due. A fifth-generation Chinese American, Salisbury goes beyond Wong's Hollywood years to her life and career in Europe, where she mingled with royalty and made films in Berlin, Paris, and London. Prepub Alert.
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January 22, 2024
Freelance book editor Salisbury debuts with a spirited biography of actor Anna May Wong (1905–1961), whom Salisbury credits with introducing “the American public to a compelling vision of Chinese American and Asian American identity at a time when our community visibility was either limited or vilified.” Wong was 18 when she filmed her breakout role in the 1924 blockbuster The Thief of Bagdad, but her fame was tainted by Hollywood’s endemic racism. She was frequently exoticized on screen (she played a scantily clad “Mongol slave” in Thief) and barred from substantive roles, even when the characters were Asian. (When MGM adapted Pearl S. Buck’s novel The Good Earth, which follows the lives of Chinese peasant farmers, producers claimed Wong didn’t have enough star power and selected white actor Luise Rainer for the female lead.) Wong also had to grapple with the Chinese community’s ambivalent feelings about her success. On a tour of China in the mid-1930s, she was by turns cheered by adoring fans and admonished by journalists for perpetuating stereotypes. Though Salisbury covers the tragic aspects of Wong’s life (she struggled with alcoholism and died of a heart attack at age 56), this biography emphasizes its subject’s grit and perseverance in carving out a niche in an industry inhospitable to actors of color. It’s a rousing testament to Wong’s talents. Photos. Agent: Alia Hanna Habib, Gernert Co.
February 1, 2024
As an ambitious teen, Wong was fixated on escaping work at her family's laundry for employment in Hollywood's burgeoning film industry. Her gamine good looks and emotive range got her in the door, but she was relegated to minor, stereotypical characters and, most regrettably, was passed over for the seminal role of O-lan in The Good Earth, which should have been a game changer for her. While her off-screen popularity never waned, her on-screen roles failed to keep pace. Analyzing Wong's filmography in this light, Salisbury exposes Golden Age practices of racial discrimination, wherein white actors were routinely cast in ethnic roles. Such casting practices have only recently begun to be corrected, and acclaimed contemporary Asian American actors such as Sandra Oh and Michelle Yeoh owe an enormous debt to Wong's professional sacrifices and groundbreaking performances. Salisbury brings the life and career of this legendary film actor into sharp, immediate focus in a vibrant biography that celebrates Wong's tenacity and commitment to her race and culture.
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Starred review from March 1, 2024
This compelling account of Anna May Wong's (1905-61) life and career as a film star is hard to put down. From her early appearance in Douglas Fairbanks's silent classic The Thief of Bagdad to King of Chinatown, and on to her final film Portrait in Black--plus her work in other media--Wong demonstrated considerable and versatile talent. Nevertheless, she consistently faced racism inherent in the industry and the country. Debut author Salisbury gives readers a thoughtful, in-depth portrait of Wong both as an individual and as a celebrity who tried to balance her traditional Chinese heritage and upbringing with her life as a modern American woman and actress. Details about her life at home and abroad and the critical turning points that drove her personal and career choices are especially intriguing. Salisbury is a skilled storyteller, seamlessly interweaving historical context, behind-the-scenes Hollywood anecdotes, and forthright takes on the social milieu of the time. An engaging preface, prologue, and bibliography and well-chosen photos complement the absorbing narrative. VERDICT A thoroughly researched and superbly written study of a remarkable woman. An important addition to film history and cultural studies collections.--Carol J. Binkowski
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