Preface Summary and Analysis

Anne Fadiman discusses her relationship with the Lee family in the preface. She offers her esteemed insight into what went astray with Lia Lee's care in the American medical system. Anne recorded her conversations with the Lees. Her interviews were conducted through an interpreter and offer a glimpse into Hmong culture. If one concentrates on the voices and ignores the ample background noise—babies, television, noisy relatives—the listener can differentiate the eight tones of the Hmong language. In contrast, Anne has also kept another set of tapes. These are of her interviews with the physicians who cared for Lia. The Lee family arrived in America in 1980, but it wasn't until 1988 that Anne first met them. At that time, Anne traveled to Merced, California to learn more about the cultural collision she had heard rumors of. While Anne was...