An American Journey

America has always been seen as the land of opportunity where individuals can rise above their circumstances through diligence, hard work, and perseverance. As this book was being written, America began to celebrate the bicentennial birth of Abraham Lincoln, whose leadership during the Civil War set this Nation on a course to define and embody what it has come to symbolize to the rest of the world. An American Journey is the story of my father who came from China to this country to lay claim to this legacy of Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War and that of Joseph Pierce, a "chinaman," who fought for the cause of Union. And it is my story, the son of Chinese immigrants, who came to know Abraham Lincoln and to live my own "American Dream."