America Is in the Heart: A Personal History (Washington Paperbacks)

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America Is in the Heart: A Personal History (Washington Paperbacks)

by Carlos Bulosan, Carey McWilliams (Introduction)

3.78 of 5 stars 3.78 · rating details · 701 ratings · 74 reviews

First published in 1946, this autobiography of the well-known Filipino poet describes his boyhood in the Philippines, his voyage to America, and his years of hardship and despair as an itinerant laborer following the harvest trail in the rural West."America came to him in a public ward in the Los Angeles County Hospital while around him men died gasping for their last bit...more

Paperback, 327 pages

Published January 1st 1973 by University of Washington Press (first published 1946)

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Feb 08, 2011 K.D. Oliveros rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: local, memoirs

Carlos Bulosan (1913-1956) was the first Pilipino who published a novel in English while in the US. This was in 1946 when he was 33 years old. He was a native of Binalonan, Pangasinan and went to the US at the age of 17 landing in Seattle in 1930.

This book amazed me in many ways but it also raised several questions in my mind.

Reading this brings back John Steinbeck’s 1939 magnum opus The Grapes of Wrath. The only difference is that the white Joad family – the main characters in Grapes - becomes...more Carlos Bulosan (1913-1956) was the first Pilipino who published a novel in English while in the US. This was in 1946 when he was 33 years old. He was a native of Binalonan, Pangasinan and went to the US at the age of 17 landing in Seattle in 1930.

This book amazed me in many ways but it also raised several questions in my mind.

Reading this brings back John Steinbeck’s 1939 magnum opus The Grapes of Wrath. The only difference is that the white Joad family – the main characters in Grapes - becomes brown Bulosan brothers. Both novels are set in California during the height of Great Depression in the 30’s. It was also the time when building notices like ”Filipinos and Dogs are Not Allowed” are visibly displayed in the US. But this was before the WWII. The heroism exhibited by Filipino soldiers fighting side-by-side with their American compatriots changed the impression of Americans with regard to their brown brothers in the Far East.

Since one of my favorite novels is Grapes, I thought that all copy-cats will surely fall below my expectations. This did not. Bulosan’s first person narration gave a very personal touch and believable. However, Wiki says that one of the characters in the book said in the interview that this book is only: "30% autobiography, 40% case history of Pinoy (Filipino immigrant) life in America, and 30% fiction." Again, Bulosan is entitled to use poetic license but he also had a plagiarism case so everything leaves a questionable after thought when I finally closed this book.

Nevertheless, a remarkable must read that all Filipinos especially those who are planning to migrate to foreign countries. Definitely not to learn about the then extreme racism against Asians in the US but to learn from how Bulosan persevered in his dreams (to become a writer and contribute in making a difference turning America a better place) despite all odds.

Bulosan did not achieve his dream of returning back to the Philippines but he left us this book for generations of Filipinos to learn from and to cherish. (less)

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Feb 08, 2011 Leah rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: memoir-ish, pinoy, writerly

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. It is not surprising that Carlos Bulosan found an early American inspiration in Abraham Lincoln; the U.S. President, like Carlos, was the son of uneducated farmers and was himself poor and educated only very briefly. Lincoln also was associated in his time and ours as being a symbol for the struggle of national unity, a struggle that Bulosan would take up in his own form in the latter part of his life. His novel/autobiography (a composite of his and his compatriot’s experiences), America is in t...more It is not surprising that Carlos Bulosan found an early American inspiration in Abraham Lincoln; the U.S. President, like Carlos, was the son of uneducated farmers and was himself poor and educated only very briefly. Lincoln also was associated in his time and ours as being a symbol for the struggle of national unity, a struggle that Bulosan would take up in his own form in the latter part of his life. His novel/autobiography (a composite of his and his compatriot’s experiences), America is in the Heart, characterizes the author’s early experience and the formative years that drove Bulosan towards this cultural and political awakening. It is his childhood experiences as well as his various introductions to American life that stir in him both the brimming ideals and the shattered illusions of equality, and teach him the differences between action and reaction. The idea of America as existing and thriving in the heart is what fuels the constant hope that Carlos holds of unity and acceptance for himself and his fellow countrymen.

Bulosan’s initial struggles for survival in the Philippines and his final migration to America create a picture of what early United States immigrants endured against the face of racism, the economy, and the cultural climate that eventually led to Japan’s bombing of Pearl Harbor. As Carey McWilliams describes in the book’s introduction, Bulosan was like many other immigrants “who were attracted to this country by its legendary promises of a better life” (vii). Bulosan’s journey towards America was also equally a move to escape the poverty of his life in the Philippines, the hopelessness of the farming that would always be hindered by the government and absentee landlords. His peasant life in the Philippines is mysterious to him, full of questions. In dire conditions, he watches as his brothers leave, and his father struggles against changing conditions to maintain the dignity of his forefathers: “My father was a farmer, not a hired laborer,” he writes. “It humiliated him to hire himself out to someone. Yet he was willing to swallow his pride and to forget the honor of his ancestors” (29). A later memory of his mother not eating so that Carlos and his brothers would have enough food also haunts this early consciousness of what it meant to be poor and seemingly helpless (280-1). As Carlos and his two brothers struggle to piece together an existence in America, Carlos learns that sometimes more than honor and comfort must be sacrificed when one comes face-to-face with the deception and hardship that accompany American idealism: “Was it possible,” he writes, “that, coming to American with certain illusions of equality, I had slowly succumbed to the hypnotic effects of racial fear?” (164) Bulosan’s rage and cynicism when encountering the constant stigma of being Filipino in America surprises even himself; he soon learns that simply reacting to prejudice with sheer hatred would cause only further discontent and disunity.

It is out of this despair and hunger that Carlos discovers the power of the written word, and the complicated possibilities that can stem from human kindnesses. Through the kinship he shares with his countrymen and adopted brothers, the shared experiences of writers like Thomas Mann and Yone Noguchi, and the unexpected and often confusing kindnesses of white people like John Fante, Marian, and Alice and Eileen Odell, Bulosan finds a chance for hope of which he could be the source: “I could follow the path of these poets… and if, at the end of my career, I could arrive at a positive understanding of America, then I could go back to the Philippines with a torch of enlightenment. And perhaps, if given a chance, I could help liberate the peasantry from ignorance and poverty” (228). Even as his conditions and health worsen, his hope expands to encompass first his family, then his village and, maybe, all of the Philippines (236).

Before saying goodbye to his family to leave for America, Carlos writes, “I was determined to leave that environment and all its crushing forces, and if I were successful in escaping unscathed, I would go back someday to understand what is meant to be born of the peasantry… I would go back to give significance to all that was starved and thwarted in my life” (62). The fact that Bulosan never gets a chance to go back to the Philippines becomes subjects for his later works – and while he may never have attained a reunion with his parents and sisters as he would have liked, the political consciousness that he attains in the latter chapters of the book show a hope for this understanding of poverty and the possibilities it may spark in others. Bulosan, who initially could not find a name for the listlessness and anxiety that he feels when confronted with racism, eventually finds a way to reach the hearts of men through his writings and teachings, and a way to let them into his vision of an ideal America. “I went from town to town,” he writes, “forming workers’ classes and working in the fields. I knew that I was also educating myself. I was learning from the men. I was rediscovering myself in their eyes… I felt my faith extending toward a future that shone with a new hope” (313).

It is this faith and hope that shades Bulosan’s every interpretation of America into one of a country blossoming with possibility, even when it is at its most hateful. Ironically it is in America, and not in his childhood as a farmer’s working son, that Carlos begins to understand his father’s love for “the earth where his parents and their parents before him had lacerated their lives” (76). In the same American pea fields where he toils for his next meal, he finds the reminder of his own home, his father’s land, and “discover[s] with astonishment that the American earth was like a huge heart unfolding warmly to receive me” (326). In his eyes, America becomes a caring and grieving mother – a mother who can be giving and generous if only the right questions are asked. The experiences of some of Bulosan’s comrades leaves them filled with bitterness, hunger driving them to crime and desperation; Carlos manages to overcome the struggle within and finds himself feeling at peace. At a crossroads of social and political awakening, Carlos is able to find a way for the goodness in his heart to most effectively inspire others: “My brother Macario had spoke of America in the hearts of men. Now I understood what he meant, for it was this small yet vast heart of mine that had kept me steering towards the stars” (314). It is through Bulosan’s words and actions that he finally is able to understand and express the optimism of his America, the hopes of his heart.(less)

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Jan 20, 2009 Monica rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is an autobiography about Carlos Bulosan's life in America. Bulosan was born in the central Philippines in Binalonan.
After arriving in America in 1930, at the age of 17, he discovered a new world of violence, racism and oppression.
I personally think this is a GREAT text! It is sad of course because it is about the lives of Filipinos in America and their struggles with racist people and even amongst themselves.

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Mar 05, 2013 Rufus rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: adventure, historical, history, should-have-read-sooner, philippines

The figure of Carlos Bulosan cuts a distinct outline in the history of Philippine-American relations. His account of the exploitation and violence perpetrated upon Filipino farm workers in the United States during the Great Depression, through the War and until the early 1950s when McCarthyist hysteria started gripping the minds of the mainstream American population, provides an incalculable source of a viewpoint that is not much read in mainstream historical works even today. Reading Bulosan is...more

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Feb 07, 2013 Angelica rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: community, historical

Let me first say that I appreciate the stories and perspectives Bulosan provides to us in these pages. The voice of any minority is crucial in our society. The stories were real, and were told in such a way that made them less of exaggerated fiction for novels than the raw memories of a Pilipino living through the racism and prejudice of others living in America.

I also don’t think it was told in a way that made Pilipinos living in America to be the heroes. Somehow, Bulosan made these people prot...more

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Jan 12, 2013 Aileen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Mr. Bulosan sets out for the American dream, but once he arrives he questions what exactly is this ”dream” he heard of so much back home in Binalonan. He finds that the ”dream” is not necessarily a tangible commodity-nice home, fancy car, expensive clothes, etc.-but being American is an idea, a way of living & thinking. Mr. Bulosan immerses himself in literature, history & philosophy to gain perspective.

Unfortunately, he comes to America to work as hard as he did in the Philippines, fro...more

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Aug 08, 2011 Anna rated it 5 of 5 stars

“Why was America so kind and yet so cruel? It was like going to war with other soldiers; some survived death but could not survive life.”

Carlos Bulosan left me clenching my chest. It didn’t matter whether or not this was a literal account (I’m sorry to tell most of readers, but most good stories aren’t). His story’s a powerful one, it speaks of violence, prejudice, exploitation and unexpected kindness. He writes with an unrelenting spirit, even when disenchanted by the world around him. He's an...more

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Jan 21, 2011 Cyndi rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical

Read for a class I am taking but thoroughly enjoyed. In four parts, the author places himself in events that were the push factor of many Filipinos to leave the Philippines and come to America. When they arrived the pull factors of democracy and freedom taught in their occupied land were not readily available to them. Prejudice, discrimination and xenophobia greeted the immigrants. Occasionally a bit of the American dream would introduce itself and illuminated the disparity of the land and it's...more

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Apr 11, 2012 Aaron rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was required reading for a history class I took in college. As the subtitle suggests, it is a memoire, thus vastly more enjoyable than most required reading for a 300 level history class. But this book was made all the more enjoyable by being familiar with several locations visited by Mr. Bulosan. Having been though the Yakima Valley on several occasions and having recently lived only thirty minute north of Pasco, it was easy to picture these locations as Mr. Bulosan would have seen them ba...more

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Apr 04, 2011 Andrew added it

Shelves: memoir

At present moment, especially in my own Seattle, Filipinos are a pretty wealthy, pretty widely respected group highly represented in business and political leadership. Hard to believe that a mere 70 years ago they were beaten for sport by shitheel Oregonian cops.

There isn't as much self-criticism and irony in America Is in the Heart as I normally like in my memoirs. But when the surrounding circumstances are so brutal (racism, murder, diseases of poverty, oppression of paisano populations), I do...more

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Feb 02, 2012 Amanda rated it 2 of 5 stars

I read America is in the Heart for my Asian American Literature class. I'm not saying it's not interesting or not a good book, but I didn't like it that much. The style wasn't one that captured my attention.

I would recommend this book to anyone who's interested in Filipino history, immigration history, and racial discrimination. The interesting thing about this novel is that Busolan mixes autobiography, memoir, and a novel together in one text. Maybe some of these things did happen to him, maybe...more

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Sep 26, 2011 Thomas Barnes rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book was painful to read - in that with every page I yearned to join Allos's struggle in finding his place in America and fight prejudice. I'm rather incredulous that all of these events could happen to one man, but as an ethnograph this story stands out as a retelling of the Filipino experience in coming to America. This book gave me a fresh perspective on my place and roots in the world, though the plethora of places and characters had a tendency to blend together and made for some modera...more

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Jul 28, 2010 Sharon rated it 5 of 5 stars

This was a very hard book to read. But it tells the painful truth of the Filipino immigrant experience in the 30's and 40's to and in the United States. Bulosan doesn't spare any details about his harsh experiences. It is just as important now, as a lesson from history about how segregation of any kind is so demoralizing, dehumanizing, and wrong--and it applies to today, too. This is a piece of the complex history of immigration in the US, of a group of people that is rarely spoken of in US hist...more

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May 10, 2013 Sarahcando rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

My favorite book by far. I highly recommend this book, especially to Filipinos and Filipino Americans who want to know about who we are and where we came from. This work is very moving and hard to read only because of all the struggles and events that Bulosan has described that he, his family, and others had to face. I had to put it down from time to time because it made me too sad and angry. I very much enjoyed his writing style and choice of words. He is a poet indefinitely. This book has beco...more

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Apr 19, 2011 Ruth rated it 3 of 5 stars

It's the first immigration story I've read by a Philippino author, and maybe the first time I thought about how rough they've had it or of the weird historical relationship between that country & the US. I liked the clarity of the writing of the earlier parts about his growing up in the Philippines and all the economic problems his family experiences there, but there is also a lot to learn after he comes to the west coast, gets involved in the labor movement there, meets all sorts of unbelie...more

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Mar 21, 2012 Lauren rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: exam-1

In many ways, an excellent book and a view/experience of America that is a necessary read. In other ways, Bulosan's book irritated me... his narration style seems to filter particular details and exclude the rest (which is true, to some extent, with any narrative)--but he doesn't seem to remain consistent with regard to the kinds/types of events that are worthy of more or less information. To me it read as a combination of a (slightly) filtered stream-of-consciousness, autobiography, social crit...more

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Jun 18, 2012 Kristina rated it 2 of 5 stars

This was a hard read for a lot of reasons.

At times it moved REALLY slow. I found it difficult to set aside time to read when I wasn't very interested in significant parts of the book. It's an auto-biography about Carlos Bulosan, a Filipino immigrant living in California in the 1920's after he fled the Philippines to escape poverty and political corruption. Bulosan, like many, believed in the American Dream but became quickly disenfranchised when he saw "the real America." While I appreciated so...more

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Apr 04, 2008 sdw rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mydissertation, asianamericanstudies, fiction

This is not an autobiography. This is fiction or a composite of many different experiences. For example, Bulosan did not work in the canneries in Alaska. I’m not sure why this book is continually introduced as an autobiography, rather than a piece of literature that falsely presents itself as autobiography. Doing so contributes to the tendency to read certain forms of literature as historical fact, and also I think downplays the particular literary merits of this piece.

This book tells the journ...more

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Mar 02, 2011 Amanda rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

I will say this is one of my favorite books ever ...
, its heart wrenching and intriguing. You cant help feeling for the characters and hoping that everything will work out. I remember almost wanting to cry so many times. There is not an inch of this book that didnt hook itself into my heart. I learned so much that I never knew before. I remember reading the ending and feeling so sad and yet feeling that there was more than just the fact of events.Superbly written. I will never forget it.

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Feb 04, 2009 Kirei rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: teens-and-adults

This is the story of a Filipino man who immigrates from his native country to the United States. Most of the story seems to take place during the Great Depression.
It was definitely worthwhile to read, but it is a real downer. One horrible thing after another happens. The beginning is much better than the end. The end was boring and I was desperate to finish the book.

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Mar 09, 2009 Xmabaitx rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is the very first book about the Filipino American experience that I ever read. Despite certain complexities regarding how "true" its account is as an actual autobiography the book changed my life. Quintessential for students of Asian American Studies, Filipino American Studies, Ethnic Studies as well as for anyone interested in the "immigrant experience".

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Sep 13, 2011 Ad Astra rated it 3 of 5 stars

There's a really stoic tone to the book and narration which I really don't enjoy personally. However, this tone does allow the author to move quickly from one location and part of his history to the next, which is valuable. I liked the book well enough, some of it seems sort of repetitive but given this is an autobiography I understand. The last 3rd of the book is where I feel it really picks up and gets extremely interesting as Carlos gets involved with the labor movements and not just the pain...more

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Sep 07, 2010 Matthew rated it 5 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Feb 09, 2010 Lance rated it 5 of 5 stars

Reminiscent of Fredrick Douglas' own journey into literacy and social consciousness, this book traces the life of a Filipino poet from a chaotic world on the fringe of American society to a world of poetry and social action. The book records an aspect of American culture that is a blind spot for most of us and will certainly deepen the complexity of anyone's view of America.

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Jun 27, 2009 Saundra rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography, memoir, writing

Eye opener regarding history of Filipinos in this country and especially in California. The author's experience is horrifying and full of hope. The structure is strictly chronological. One traumatic event after the other. The author's patient voice and well-crafted sentences move you along. I couldn't put it down.

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Apr 16, 2013 Hope rated it 2 of 5 stars

Not a fun book. It's billed as an autobiography, but is fictionalized in parts. The characters a fleeting in their significance and page-time, and despite the character's exceptional story of perseverance, he is hard to relate to. I read it for a literature class. It's good for education, not much else.

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Jul 29, 2010 Christopher rated it 4 of 5 stars

Fascinating book about the discrimination that Asians, and especially Filipinos, faced when coming to America in the 30s and 40s, and one author's struggle against it. Minus one star only because there is a confusing blend of fact and fiction, when the book presents itself as fact.

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May 30, 2009 Makenzie Rogowski rated it 4 of 5 stars

Stories about people coming to America are plenty and I can't get enough of them. I fear that if these stories are not told (and read) that we are doomed to repeat the travesty and promote the adversity that makes our world a difficult and sometimes impossible place to live in. Empathy and compassion are novelties in the animal kingdom, I often need to remind myself that humans have the capacity for both.

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Jul 17, 2010 Bruce Reyes-Chow rated it 5 of 5 stars

If you want a glimpse into early Filipino American immigration story, this is the standard read. Understood more as a novel than an auto-biography, American in the in the Heart gives you a wonderfully told story of an important part of American history.

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Jan 06, 2011 Stephanie Pugh rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book is a heart-breaker. It describes a Filipino who immigrates to America and suffers from prejudice, discrimination, unemployment, and disease. Overall it has a compelling style, but you have to be invested in order to find anything in it.

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