Asian Americans have made many contributions to American life. The 1990 U.S. Census showed that Asian Americans represented about 3% of the total U.S. population. This textbook presents the stories of 16 Asian Americans and their significant accomplishments. Brief biographies are presented of: (1) Daniel K. Inouye, U.S. Senator from Hawaii; (2) Maxine Hong Kingston, author of novels about Chinese Americans; (3) I. M. Pei, world famous architect; (4) Maya Lin, sculptor and designer of the Vietnam Memorial; (5) An Wang, scientist, inventor, and founder of Wang Laboratories; (6) Haing Ngor, Cambodian physician who became an actor in the United States; (7) Seiji Ozawa, symphony conductor; (8) Kristi Yamaguchi, figure skater; (9) Noriyuki "Pat" Morita, actor; (10) Yo-Yo Ma, cellist; (11) David Ho, medical researcher fighting AIDS; (12) Wendy Lee Gramm, economist; (13) Ellison Onizuka, astronaut who died in the Challenger explosion; (14) Carlos Bulosan, poet; (15) Jose Aruego, illustrator of children's books; and (16) Dustin Nguyen, actor. Each biographical sketch is followed by questions to enhance learning. Answers to these questions and additional activities are presented. (Contains 68 references.) (SLD)