CONTENTS -- PREFACE -- INTRODUCTION: We Are Here Because You Were There -- 1. Unburdening Empire: The Cultural Politics of Asian American Difference -- 2. An Ever-Emergent Empire: The Discourse of American Exceptionalism -- 3. "The American Earth Was Like a Huge Heart": Old Dreams and the New Imperialism -- 4. Uplifting Race, Reconstructing Empire -- 5. "Everybody Wants to Be Farrah": Absurd Histories and Historical Absurdities -- EPILOGUE: Pay Any Price, Bear Any Burden -- NOTES -- INDEX -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Y.