In Chinese Australians: Politics, Engagement and Resistance key scholars explore how Chinese Australians in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries influenced the communities in which they lived on a civic or individual level. With a focus on the motivations and aspirations of their subjects, the authors draw on biography, world history, case law, newspapers and immigration case files to investigate the political worlds of Chinese Australians. The book also introduces current literature and thinking about the history of the Chinese in Australia and includes a postscript that reflects on the importance of historical analysis to current day political science.