Charles N. Li

About The Author

Charles Li is Emeritus Professor of Linguistics and former Dean of the Graduate Division (1989-2006) at the University of California, Santa Barbara. An author and editor of numerous linguistics books and articles, Li’s memoir of the first twenty years of his life, The Bitter Sea: Coming of Age in a China before Mao, received wide critical acclaim. The book was chosen by Baruch College of the City University of New York as required reading for the 2010 Freshman Class and was adapted for the stage at the Baruch Performing Arts Center. In 2017, an NPR podcast featured the book.

Books by Charles N. Li

Lord Guan
In the spirit of "Shogun," and from the publisher of the bestseller "Wicked" by Gregory Maguire, comes another iconic story inspired by the real-life hero Lord Guan, also known as Guan Yu. Known as an honorable warrior who fought to restore the Han dynasty in second-century China, this dramati...
The Turbulent Sea

Passage to a New World

A young teen escapes to America from Mao’s China in the early 60s and experiences the consequent culture shock of cruel racism, financial hardships, unexpected freedom, bewildering sexual mores, and the aching rejection and loneliness that so many immigrants face. Swept up in the 1960s antiwar...
BACK TO TOP