Reference Reviews

Doug’s Student Reference Room

American Ethnic Writers, by the editors of Salem Press. Pasadena, CA: Salem Press, 2008. 3 vols. 1000 pp. ISBN: 978-1-58765-462-6. $217.

An ongoing effort among American literature teachers at the secondary and post-secondary levels is to expand the canon of quality offerings in the curriculum, exposing students to a range of perspectives that reflects this country’s diversity. This three-volume set offers comprehensive coverage of ethnic literature, examining the most important ethnic literary voices from the Harlem Renaissance through today, looking at writers from all major American minority cultures: African American, Asian American, Jewish American, Hispanic/Latino and Native American. The volumes, which feature more than ninety women writers, include authors from diverse genres and represent literary figures ranging from the Harlem Renaissance to Chicano literature to contemporary American ethnic and multiethnic voices in the twenty-first century. Two hundred and 25 writers and more than 700 works, are discussed in the set of essays arranged alphabetically by author; most high school students will find the language of the individual entries accessible. Each essay begins with introductory information about the featured writer and a description of his or her significance, followed by two to three pages of biography and an analysis of up to ten of the author’s works, averaging one page per work; black and white photographs appear throughout. The list of suggested reading that concludes each essay will assist readers in further inquiry. Each volume opens with a complete list of contents and a pronunciation guide. Two appendices-a general bibliography and a list of Web site-- and five indexes --by author, title, author by ethnic identity, titles by ethnic identity and titles by genre--round out the set. Highly recommended for high school, college and public libraries.