Stay True: A Memoir

Hua Hsu is a Chinese American author and scholar who specializes in Asian American studies, ethnic studies, and popular culture. Hua was born in 1977 to Taiwanese parents who were students at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Campaign. Hua spent his early childhood in Plano and Richardson, Texas before his parents relocated to Cupertino, California, home of Apple Inc. Hua often traveled to Taiwan after his father moved back to the island to pursue work. Hua received his BA from the University of California, Berkeley in 1999 and his PhD in the History of American Civilization from Harvard University in 2008. He taught at Vassar College from 2017 to 2022, after which he became Professor of English at Bard College. In 2012, Hua published A Floating Chinaman: Fantasy and Failure Across the Pacific, a book based on his dissertation research. Hua has also published numerous essays and articles on identity, race, immigration, music, and food. At the time of Stay True’s publication, he is a staff writer at the New Yorker.

Hua’s memoir focuses on his formative years at Berkeley and addresses key aspects of his personal background, notably, immigration and family. Hua was a watchful, politically engaged student who spent most of his college years grappling with his

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