PanThe New York Times Book ReviewSince \'California has a privileged place\' in the capitalist story, and capitalism controls the world, this book aims to explain, well, pretty much everything. It does not succeed ... For Harris, as for Marx, capitalism is the root of all societal evil ... But what should replace this capitalist horror show once it’s been shattered? Harris never tells us ... It’s a cartoonishly negative and over-theorized portrait that bears little or no resemblance to the complex realities of California, capitalism or the world ... Harris’s seamless, all-explanatory narrative feels increasingly and weirdly teleological, like a cult belief system. Every fact fits perfectly into a truth that is already known; exceptions only prove the rule.
Julia Flynn Siler
MixedThe New York Times Book ReviewUsing [a] scattershot approach to frame the work done by Cameron and other women at the Mission Home, [Siler] attempts to situate the group’s struggle in a broader context. To some degree, she succeeds. She focuses commendable attention on exemplary but overlooked figures ... However, it is in dealing with this larger context, and with the specifics of the battle against sex slavery itself, that The White Devil’s Daughters falls short. In her determination to avoid offenses against multiculturalism, Siler presents a less than comprehensive view of her subject. For instance, she fails to explore in depth the Chinatown community’s murky relationship with the sex slave trade and the criminal tongs (secret societies in some respects resembling the mafia) that controlled it ... Despite such omissions, Siler has provided a usefully broad view of the fight against slavery in San Francisco’s Chinatown, one especially effective in giving voice to previously underappreciated figures who worked alongside Cameron or blazed their own important trails. Readers who can see past the book’s ideological overlay will find it a solid introduction to an inspiring and, yes, heroic struggle against a barbaric practice.
