White Devil, American Daughter

Authors Julia Flynn Siler and Jasmin Darznik discuss how they’ve pushed past silences and stereotypes to render a more vivid portrait of Chinese American women in San Francisco. What are the possibilities and limits of nonfiction to recover lost and hidden stories? How can fiction meaningfully contribute to our understanding of history? The conversation between Siler and Darznik raised intriguing questions about history and the imagination, as well as our efforts to make sense of the past through storytelling.

Jasmin Darznik is the bestselling author of The Bohemians, set in San Francisco. Her debut was a New York Times Book Review “Editors’ Choice” book and a Los Angeles Times bestseller. Darznik is also the author of The Good Daughter: A Memoir of My Mother’s Hidden Life. Her books have been published in 17 countries, and her essays have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times.

Julia Flynn Siler’s latest book, The White Devil’s Daughters, was a New York Times Book Review “Editors’ Choice” and a finalist for a California Book Award. She is also the author of Lost Kingdom: Hawaii’s Last Queen, the Sugar Kings, and America’s First Imperial Adventure; and The House of Mondavi.

* This event was held at the San Francisco Historical Society Museum on March 8, 2022. SFHS is in the process of upgrading our media production equipment before our next program (you may have noticed the audio track has some static - thank you for your patience as we scale up our media production efforts this year).

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