Four Treasures of the Sky

I have been reading like a fiend this summer. Not every book has a happy ending. There are more books where authors are writing about their heritage. In the past few years, the number of books written by Black, Latino, Korean and Chinese writers has accelerated, or perhaps the industry finally realized they should be casting a wider net, and they weren’t.  

After reading these books, I have come to my own reality again and again that America has been a terrible place for most of the people who live here. Do we really know the history of the first settlers and what kind of people they were? Not until a Ph.D. comes along and writes a historical thesis or book that pokes holes in the stories we have been told in our history books do we challenge the narrative set in place.

It sounds insane to question our historical roots. Still, Thanksgiving has been touted as excellent even when, in reality, it was not a thanks-for-giving event. Then reading all of these first-generation American voices, the story of their parents, and how it was for them growing up in America—even going back to the horrific times in the 1880s- is bone-numbing.

What is it about people who fear reality, change, questioning, and are content believing that everything should remain the same, something that I will never understand? The importance of our children reading those books at a young age, discussing our history, and understanding the reality of our forefathers is beyond important. It is the only way we can make changes in the future.

Four Treasures of the Sky is a historical novel based on horrific lawlessness and hatred in the 19th century during the Chinese Exclusion Act. A worthy read.