The first detailed account of the 1880 Denver anti-Chinese riot and its political consequences, Liping Zhu's book clearly explains the impact of the riot on the election and on the sectional debate in the United States in the post-Reconstruction era. Traditionally, the election of 1880 is often glossed over by historians, in part because of the lackluster presidential candidates, Democrat Winfield Scott and Republican James Garfield. Although the riot is often noted in books and articles, historians have ignored its impact until now. In The Road to Chinese Exclusion, the author analyzes the sectional issue between North/South, North/West, and South/West and demonstrates the growing significance of the American West in the politics of the United States.

Providing a thorough look at the Chinese in the Territory and then the State of Colorado, Zhu explains how Colorado invited the Chinese to move to the area in 1870, but by 1880 anti-Chinese sentiment was on the rise. Many of the Chinese moved to the region as miners and Anglo-Americans felt threatened by their competition for mineral resources. Additionally, the traditional arguments against the Chinese, such as their not being Christians and their reputation for involvement in opium and prostitution, grew as the Chinese population increased. Anti-Chinese animosity rose with the publication of the fabricated Morey letter that claimed that presidential candidate James Garfield approved of the importation of Chinese laborers into the United States. The letter advocated the free importation of Chinese workers by big business. Although exposed almost immediately as a fake, the Morey letter, in combination with the late October riot, brought about a realignment of the Republicans and the Democrats in the United States in terms of their stance on equality issues. In other words, the events resulted in Republicans distancing themselves from the equal-rights views they had held for nearly thirty years.

Zhu thoroughly discusses these political questions and the place of the West in American politics, providing a clear explanation of the events even for those unfamiliar with the era. Equally well done is the author's discussion of Chinese Coloradans. These details provide a good insight into the Chinese movement into Colorado, their interactions with the Anglo community, and the social structure of Chinatown, from traditional funerals to opium dens to business practices. Zhu explains that, as the decade drew to a close, anti-Chinese sentiment in the Colorado communities increased as the Asian population grew and as the election drew closer.

The political discussion of the election of 1880 is superb; it provides the kind of analysis not previously seen. The book details the importance of the press, the speed with which the news spread about the Morey letter, and the letter's influence on voting outcomes in several states, albeit not in Colorado. The riot is described in excellent detail and Zhu explains persuasively the local, national, and international ramifications of the violence. After the election, the Chinese sought reparations for damages done to their community. The United States government offered none, leading to a deterioration in diplomatic relations between the United States and China, just on the eve of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act.

The author powerfully demonstrates the rise of the American West's political influence by undertaking a groundbreaking investigation into the arguments over Chinese immigration into the United States. The book is a significant addition to the literature about the American West, sectionalism, and the changing political parties in the nation. There is no doubt that this book provides new information about Chinese history in the United States and its impact on American political structures. An outstanding contribution to the scholarly field, this book is an excellent example of how a book should be written. An intellectual tour de force, Zhu is to be highly commended for undertaking pioneering scholarship, in which he succeeds in shedding new light on a fundamentally important subject that had previously been critically neglected.