- Speaker
- Michael Luo
- Lecture date
- March 10th, 2026
- Time
- 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
- Title
- Strangers in the Land: Exclusion, Belonging, and the Epic Story of the Chinese in America
Michael Luo is an executive editor at The New Yorker and writes regularly on politics, religion, and Asian American issues. Before joining The New Yorker in 2016, he spent 13 years at the New York Times as a metro reporter, national correspondent, and investigative reporter and editor. He is a recipient of a George Polk Award and a Livingston Award for Young Journalists.
Luo published his first book, Strangers in the Land: Exclusion, Belonging, and the Epic Story of the Chinese in America, in April 2025. It tells the story of a people who, beginning in the middle of the nineteenth century, migrated by the tens of thousands to a distant land they called Gum Shan — Gold Mountain. Americans initially welcomed these Chinese arrivals, but, as their numbers grew, horrific episodes of racial terror erupted on the Pacific coast. In a captivating debut, Luo follows the Chinese from these early years to modern times, as they persisted in the face of bigotry and persecution, revealing anew the complications of our multiracial democracy. Drawing on archives from across the country and written with a New Yorker writer’s style and sweep, Strangers in the Land is revelatory and unforgettable, an essential American story.