CHINATOWN: A Portrait of a Closed Society...

CHINATOWN: A Portrait of a Closed Society by Gwen Kinkead (HarperPerennial: $12; 215 pp.; illustrated). This intelligent study of conditions in Manhattan’s burgeoning Chinatown began as a series of articles in the old New Yorker. Kinkead traces the history of Chinatown (and similar enclaves throughout North America), from urban ghetto and exotic tourist attraction to modern ethnic community. She draws moving portraits of men and women willing to sacrifice physical comfort to make the money needed to pursue their vision of the American dream, analyzes the growing conflicts between traditional Confucian values and contemporary ethnic pride and reveals the growing importance of Asian gangs and crime bosses in the heroin trade.