ANH CAO: In the letter he told me, he said, 'Son, I'm sorry I cannot be with you. There are three things I want you to do: one, you have to study hard, two, you have to work hard, and three, you have to contribute to your community and country.' That pretty much stuck with me since I was nine.

Anh "Joseph" Cao listened to this advice. He received a university degree in physics. In nineteen ninety he joined the Society of Jesus with the aim of becoming a religious worker. Mister Cao worked with the Jesuits in poor areas of Mexico and China. He also received a master's degree in philosophy. But after six years he decided not to become a priest.

He decided to work for social justice in a non-religious way. So, he received a law degree and started working as a lawyer in New Orleans. He also began volunteering in his community.

After Hurricane Katrina destroyed much of his city in two thousand five, Mister Cao became more involved in politics. He fought for the rights of the Vietnamese community.

He joined the Republican Party and became active on local and state political committees. He decided to compete against his local representative in Congress, William Jefferson, who had been in office since nineteen ninety-one. Mister Jefferson's reelection campaign was not helped by federal corruption charges against him.

ANH CAO: You know, whether you are a Republican or a Democrat, whether you are an African American or a Caucasian or an Asian, we all want a good health care system, we all want a good educational system for our children, we all want hurricane protection.

Mister Cao won the election. That night he said that never in his life did he think he could be a congressman. He said that the American dream is alive and well.

(MUSIC)

"Gone with the Wind"

HOST: Our listener question this week comes from China. Zhang Li wants to know more about the book and movie "Gone with the Wind."

Margaret Mitchell

Margaret Mitchell did not plan to become famous around the world for the book she wrote. She had been working as a reporter for the Atlanta Journal in the state of Georgia. But she resigned from her job in nineteen twenty-six. She spent many months in bed recovering from injuries suffered when she fell from a horse years earlier. Her husband brought her books to read from the library. He later suggested that she write her own book and bought her paper and a typewriter.

Miz Mitchell decided to write about what she knew. Her book was based on the stories her family and Civil War veterans told her about the South during the eighteen sixties. Miz Mitchell was very secretive about writing the book.

The one thousand page book is about a beautiful and rebellious young woman named Pansy O'Hara who lived in Georgia during the Civil War. The publisher suggested Miz Mitchell change the heroine's name to Scarlett. "Gone with the Wind" was published in nineteen thirty-six. The next year, Margaret Mitchell won the Pulitzer Prize for her novel.

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