Since the late 1960s, American literature has been revitalized by the work of writers such as Toni Morrison, Sherman Alexie, Sandra Cisneros and Maxine Hong Kingston. Acclaimed by critics and a popular readership alike, these writers are increasingly being taught in schools and universities on English and American literature courses. This text is designed to introduce students not only to these and other ethnic writers, but also to the cultural contexts and literary traditions in which their work is situated. To that end, it is organised in four sections, each written by a specialist in the fields of African American, Asian American, Chicano/a and native American literature. Each section offers an overview of the tradition, a discussion of the critical and theoretical issues it has raised, essays on individual novels, and extensive bibliographies and suggestions for further reading to assist students and teachers in the study of ethnic American fiction.