AMERICAN ASWANG

<p>Manette Trogani Snow always wondered why her father Martin Pop Trogani punished his children by forcing them to kneel on raw rice arms outstretched with a stack of books piled high on their hands. In a quest to understand why Pop treated Manette and her eleven siblings so horribly she unearthed not only her own family's hidden histories but also a previously unknown chapter in US history about racism immigration and war.</p><p>In a fascinating memoir created from a twenty-five-year mission to excavate information from archives articles books and interviews Manette chronicles her journey through a childhood darkened by fear brutality secrets and lies while detailing the story of her father's family's experiences as the only known survivors-despite being starved and tortured during the Japanese occupation of World War II-of an orchestrated campaign to expel them from the United States under the Filipino Repatriation Act of 1935. Included throughout are a treasure trove of personal and historic images as well as additional insights obtained after the completion of Manette's extensive research.</p><p>American Aswang intertwines the true story of a Filipino-American girl's challenging coming-of-age journey with the often horrific experiences of her father's family as they were repatriated to the Philippines.</p>