Imagining America: Stories from the Promised Land / Edition 2

by Wesley Brown, Amy Ling

Overview

The acclaimed multicultural fiction anthology, updated to include recent writers.

Thirty-seven short stories from 1900 to the present, written by some of our best authors—African, Asian, European, Jewish, Middle Eastern, and Native American—follow the waves of immigration into and migration within the United States. These stories are unique in time and circumstance, yet they address a common dilemma: how to reconcile America's mythologized "promise" with its more complex reality. New to the collection are Sherman Alexie, Michelle Cliff, Edwidge Danticat, Junot Diaz, Chitra Divakaruni, Jewelle Gomez, Thomas King, Bruce Morrow, Agnes Rossi, and David Wong Louie. They join Toni Cade Bambara, Richard Bausch, Marita Bonner, Nash Candelaria, Sandra Cisneros, Louise Erdrich, Mei Mei Evans, Oscar Hijuelos, Gish Jen, LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka, Kim Yong Ik, Monfoon Leong, Bernard Malamud, Paule Marshall, Nicholasa Mohr, Toshio Mori, Bharati Mukherjee, Mikhail Naimy, Tahira Naqvi, Gregory Orfalea, Grace Paley, Jeanne Schinto, Leslie Marmon Silko, Michael Stephens, Sui Sin Far, Alice Walker, and Hisaye Yamamoto—making this, once again, the most authoritative and useful multicultural collection available.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780892552771
Publisher:	Persea Books
Publication date:	03/17/2003
Series:	Multicultural Anthology of American Fiction
Edition description:	Revised Edition
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	621,303
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.10(d)
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

Wesley Brown, novelist and playwright, is also the editor of Imagining America and Visions of America. He is on the faculty of Rutgers University.

Amy Ling (d. 1999), critic and scholar, was the founding director of the Asian American Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Table of Contents

	Introduction	ix
I.	Arriving
	In the Land of the Free	3
	The Whipping	12
	The English Lesson	21
	The German Refugee	35
	They Won't Crack It Open	47
	A Wife's Story	57
	Silver Pavements, Golden Roofs	70
	The Blossoming of Bongbong	84
	Children of the Sea	98
II.	Belonging
	His Grace	115
	Japanese Hamlet	121

Editorial Reviews

In this variegated, engaging, and timely gathering of American stories, 37 writers reveal the dramas of strangers in this strange land. Immigrants at the moment of arrival, in their years-long struggle for belonging and identity, and at the point of recollection and reconciliation face the myriad options for frustration, empowerment, failure, and joy indigenous to their new home. Most of the contributors will be welcome discoveries for readers; the more famous include Bernard Malamud, Alice Walker, and Oscar Hijuelos. They and their protagonists represent Ireland, Korea, India, Lebanon, and other parts of the world. Both celebration and indictment, this eloquent anthology well suits the current interest in multiculturalism. Highly recommended for most collections.-- Janet Ingraham, Worthington P.L., Ohio

Library Journal

YA-- An anthology of 37 short stories from writers of various ethnic backgrounds. A common thread is the immigrant experience--trying to reconcile the ``American Dream'' with what is sometimes a less-exalted reality. An excellent tool for exposing YAs to the multicultural experience.

School Library Journal