Inseparable by Yunte Huang
Nearly a decade after his triumphant Charlie Chan biography, Yunte Huang returns with this long-awaited portrait of Chang and Eng Bunker (1811-1874), twins conjoined at the sternum by a band of cartilage and a fused liver, who were discovered in Siam by a British merchant in 1824. Bringing an Asian American perspective to this almost implausible story, Huang depicts the twins, arriving in Boston in 1829, first as museum exhibits but later as financially savvy showmen who gained their freedom and traveled the backroads of rural America to bring entertainment to the Jacksonian mobs. Their rise from subhuman, freak-show celebrities to rich southern gentry; their marriage to two white sisters, resulting in twenty-one children; and their owning of slaves, is here not just another sensational biography but a Hawthorne-like excavation of America's historical penchant for finding feast in the abnormal, for tyrannizing the other-a tradition that, as Huang reveals, becomes inseparable from American history itself.
"In the follow-up to his Edgar Award-winning Charlie Chan biography, Huang uncovers ironies, paradoxes and examples of how Chang and Eng subverted what Leslie Fiedler called ‘the tyranny of the normal'" -- Jane Ciabattari - BBC
"It is a fascinating story…" -- Literary Review
"Yunte Huang’s book Inseparable tells [a] remarkable story." -- The Times
"Yunte Huang is well placed to retell this extraordinary story of transnational celebrity and assimilation. Huang grew up in China... his Asian American focus is fresh and welcome." -- Times Literary Supplement
"After retiring in a small North Carolina town, they owned as many as 32 slaves and, between them, fathered at least 21 children. If that doesn't intrigue you—wait, how can that not intrigue you?" -- The 50 Best Books of 2018 - Newsweek
"The story of Chang and Eng, the original Siamese twins, has been covered before, but this extensively researched biography sheds light both on their extraordinary lives and the 19th century America in which they lived." -- The Herald
"It is a fascinating story…" -- Literary Review
"Yunte Huang’s book Inseparable tells [a] remarkable story." -- The Times
"Yunte Huang is well placed to retell this extraordinary story of transnational celebrity and assimilation. Huang grew up in China... his Asian American focus is fresh and welcome." -- Times Literary Supplement
"After retiring in a small North Carolina town, they owned as many as 32 slaves and, between them, fathered at least 21 children. If that doesn't intrigue you—wait, how can that not intrigue you?" -- The 50 Best Books of 2018 - Newsweek
"The story of Chang and Eng, the original Siamese twins, has been covered before, but this extensively researched biography sheds light both on their extraordinary lives and the 19th century America in which they lived." -- The Herald
Yunte Huang, a Guggenheim Fellow, has taught at Harvard and the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he is a Distinguished Professor of English. The author of the Edgar Award–winning biography Charlie Chan and Inseparable, both NBCC finalists, Huang speaks frequently about American popular culture.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781631495458 |
| ISBN 10 | 1631495453 |
| Title | Inseparable |
| Author | Yunte Huang |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | WW Norton & Co |
| Year published | 2019-05-10 |
| Number of pages | 416 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |