Iris Chang, a Chinese-American historian of the late 20th century who studied the experiences of Chinese Americans throughout history, committed suicide in November 2004. A few years later, her close friend Paula Kamen decided to research the possible causes of Iris' seemingly sudden death and published a short biography of her. The biography, Finding Iris Chang: Friendship, Ambition, and the Loss of an Extraordinary Mind, was an effort to allay misconceptions about Iris's apparent sudden death and describe her personal life using the accounts of various people with whom Chang interacted. The book, however, testifies to the idea that although a biographical narrative can describe to some extent the experiences of a certain social group to which its subject belonged, biography is too individualized for other types of resources to be better suitable for historical research. of this group. To begin with, it is interesting to note that the author, Kamen, wrote the biography in a style very close to first-person detective novels. The premise of writing this book lies in the fact that Iris Chang was a well-known historian and author, but the details of her personal life, which could have given clues to the motives for her suicide, were in great detail. part unknown. Essentially, Kamen saw biography as a way to "investigate beyond the public contours of this public persona, to find color, depth, and perhaps even shadow [to Iris's life]." » However, throughout American history, American society has dictated that Chinese immigrants and Americans of Chinese origin take second place to white Americans in terms of rights and privileges, as early as 1790 with the law on nationality, which effectively denied early Chinese immigrants and their children the right to...... middle of paper. ....ing Iris Chang placed too much emphasis on the investigation of Chang's own mental illness and fails to meaningfully connect Iris Chang's life to the contemporary Chinese-American experience. Additionally, the objective nature of the biography allowed Kamen to inject too much. of her personal perspectives on the issues at hand. In an ironic twist, Iris Chang's The Chinese in America triumphs over Finding Iris Chang when it comes to understanding Chinese-American history. The Chinese in America: A Narrative History. New York: Viking, 2003. Print. Chun, Edna. “Asian Americans Lead the Invisible Minority.” OVERVIEW of diversity. Potomac Publishing Inc., November 3, 2013. Web. December 3, 2013. Kamen, Paula. In Search of Iris Chang: Friendship, Ambition, and the Loss of an Extraordinary Mind. [Cambridge, Massachusetts]: Da Capo, 2007. Print.