A Different Mirror

A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America by Ronald Takaki is a revisionist account of American history that provides an in-depth view of America as a country populated and built by diverse peoples of the world. Originally published in 1993 by Little, Brown and Company, this study guide uses the updated 2008 edition. In 1994 A Different Mirror received an Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for its contributions to advancing understandings of racism and human diversity.

Takaki’s main argument in A Different Mirror is that the United States, from its inception, has been a multicultural and diverse country, originally inhabited by Native Americans and by subsequent ethnic groups who have worked to advance the ideals of American democracy and its promise of “equality for all.” Takaki provocatively states that America was not settled and developed primarily by Europeans; rather, it was built from the appropriated land and labor of Native Americans, African Americans, Mexican Americans, Irish Americans, Asian Americans, Jewish Americans, and many more ethnic immigrant groups. Takaki’s approach to history is highly comparative and inclusive, as he disrupts a “Master Narrative of American History” that largely focuses on the achievements of white Americans (4). Instead, Takaki’s book addresses the foundational contributions of minority groups and puts their experiences at the forefront of American history.

Organized into four distinct thematic periods, respectively entitled “Foundations,” “Contradictions,” “Transitions,” and “Transformations,” A Different Mirror presents a sweeping history of America from its earliest settlement by Europeans through the 21st century. While Takaki addresses key epochs and figures in American history, his approach is distinctly revisionist, as he pays close attention to the narratives and perspectives of peoples who typically are not recorded in official histories. His extensive use of songs, poems, memoirs, letters, diaries, and folklore presents an alternative history of America that also is highly ethnographic in its description of the everyday, lived experiences of ethnic minorities.

Conceptually, A Different Mirror advances theories about race and ethnicity, treating these not as static categories but as relational, cultural constructs that gain salience through shared imaginaries and common experiences across time and space. Early on, Takaki sets up the trope of Caliban—a figure from Shakespeare’s play The Tempest—to show how English representations of “the Other” took on different meanings in different contexts. Variously portrayed as “savage,” “barbaric,” “dark,” “lustful,” “deceitful,” and “sinister,” Caliban stands in for the assumed characteristics of every conceivable ethnic group. He is Indian, black, Irish, Mexican, Jewish, Chinese, and so on. Ultimately, these representations of racial difference reveal more about the creation and consolidation of a white American identity than about the people Caliban supposedly represents.

The power differentials of race and ethnicity, as tied to class interests, is another prominent theme in Takaki’s work. Part 1 depicts the brutal appropriation of indigenous land and black labor by white colonialists, settlers, and slaveholders. Parts 2 and 3 document the exploitation of immigrants and migrant workers for capitalist expansion, while Part 4 details the hard-won concessions that ethnic minorities extracted from white Americans—a political victory that did not equate to economic equity in the 21st century. Thus, A Different Mirror is very much a story about class conflict, a story in which institutionalized racism made it possible for capitalists to profit from the stolen land and labor of ethnic minorities.

While A Different Mirror documents class struggles it also shows the interethnic alliances that minority groups forged with one another to resist their shared oppression and advocate for better working and living conditions. In each chapter Takaki provides evidence of ethnic groups challenging the status quo, linking their situation to a wider struggle for freedom and equality. Takaki’s focus on the interconnections and interdependence of ethnic groups sets his work apart from previous studies on race and ethnicity that typically address single groups of people. Due to this comparative and multicultural approach, A Different Mirror is a foundational text in the fields of ethnic studies and American history.