This book features scholarly criticism on works by 19 famous authors, such as N. Scott Momaday, James Welch, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Rudolfo Anaya, Sandra Cisneros, Amy Tan, and more. These authors' works are widely taught, but little critical comment is yet available about them. Written specifically for instructors in literature courses, these essays focus on longer works of prose in each of the four major ethnic literatures of the United States: Native American, Mexican American, Asian American, and African American. The Native American section includes: (1) "Indian Preservation: Teaching "Black Elk Speaks" (G. Thomas Couser); (2) "Beauty Before Me: Notes on House Made of Dawn'" by N. Scott Momaday (Helen Jaskoski); (3) "Crying for Vision in James Welch's Winter in the Blood'" (William W. Thackeray); (4) "Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony: From Alienation to Reciprocity'" (Norma C. Wilson); and (5) "Building Bridges: Crossing the Waters to a Love Medicine'" by Louise Erdrich (John Purdy). The African American section contains: (1) "Ethnic and Gender Identity in Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God'" (Susan Meisenhelder); (2) "Racial Discourse and Self-Creation: Richard Wright's Black Boy'" (Yoshinobu Hakutani); (3) "'Measure Him Right': An Analysis of Lorraine Hansberry's Raisin in the Sun'" (Jeanne-Marie A. Miller); (4) "'Closer to the Edge': Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon'" (Linda Wagner-Martin); and (5) "A Fairy-Tale Life: The Making of Celie in Alice Walker's The Color Purple'" (Daniel W. Ross). The Mexican American section includes: (1)"Learning to Read (and/in) Rudolfo Anaya's Bless Me, Ultima'" (Juan Bruce-Novoa); (2) "Chicano Theatre Reaches the Professional Stage: Luis Valdez's Zoot Suit'" (Elizabeth Ramirez); (3) "Entering The House on Mango Street'" by Sandra Cisneros (Julian Olivares); and (4) "Richard Rodriguez's Hunger of Memory' and New Perspectives on Ethnic Autobiography" (Antonio C. Marquez). The Asian American section contains: (1) "Searching for the Heart of 'America'" by Carlos Bulosan (E. San Juan, Jr.); (2) "'Growing with Stories': Chinese American Identities, Textual Identities" (Maxine Hong Kingston); (3) "Experiential Approaches to Teaching Joy Kogawa's Obasan'" (Mitsuye Yamada); (4) "Reading Between the Syllables: Hisaye Yamamoto's Seventeen Syllables and Other Stories'" (King-Kok Cheung); and (5) Swan-Feather Mothers and Coca-Cola Daughters: Teaching Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club'" (Wendy Ho). Each essay is accompanied by bibliographies and pedagogical strategies for helping students appreciate texts from a variety of cultures and traditions. (EH)