Acknowledgments
Ch. 1 Assimilation, Adaptation, and Immigrant Life 3
Ch. 2 The Study and the Setting 24
Ch. 3 Vietnamese Roots 38
Ch. 4 Patchworking: Households in the Economy 73
Ch. 5 The Family Tightrope: Gender Relations 108
Ch. 6 Generation Gaps 144
Ch. 7 The Changing Contours of Vietnamese American Family Life 167
Bibliography 173
Index 181

In recent years the popular media have described Vietnamese Americans as the quintessential American immigrant success story, attributing their accomplishments to the values they learn in the traditional, stable, hierarchical confines of their family. Questioning the accuracy of such family portrayals, Nazli Kibria draws on in-depth interviews and participant observation with Vietnamese immigrants in Philadelphia to show how they construct their family lives in response to the social and economic challenges posed by migration and resettlement. To a surprising extent, the "traditional" family unit rarely exists, and its hierarchical organization has been greatly altered.

Nazli Kibria is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Boston University.