Moys of New York and Shanghai: One Family's Extraordinary Journey Through War and Revolution

Charlotte Brooks
Publisher: University of California Press
March 10 2026
EAN: 9780520409552
ISBN: 0520409558
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Synopsis:

The most extraordinary family you've never heard of.

Born to Chinese immigrant parents, the Moy siblings grew up in an America that questioned their citizenship and denied their equality. Sophisticated and self-consciously modern, they challenged limitations and stereotypes in the United States and sought new opportunities in China's tumultuous republic. Sometimes the risks they took paid off, but their occasional recklessness also led to infidelity, divorce, bankruptcy, and worse. Those in China faced pressure to collaborate with Japanese occupiers, making choices that had serious consequences for their siblings in the United States.

Charlotte Brooks's gripping tale follows the family back and forth across the Pacific and through two world wars, China's Nationalist and Communist revolutions, and the Cold War--events that the siblings and their spouses helped shape. The Moys' incredible story offers a kaleidoscopic view of an entire generation's struggle for acceptance and belonging.