This critical study of Asian American literature discusses work by internationally successful writers such as Maxine Hong Kingston, Chang-rae Lee, Bharati Mukherjee, Amy Tan and others in their historical, cultural and critical contexts. The focus of this book is on contemporary writing, from the 1970s onwards, although it also traces over a hundred years of Asian American literary production in prose, poetry, drama and criticism. The main body of the book comprises five periodized chapters that highlight important events in a nation-state that has historically rendered Asian Americans invisible. Of particular importance to the writers selected for case studies are questions of racial identity, cultural history and literary value with respect to dominant American ideologies. Key features * The first readily available introductory guide to Asian American literature * Discusses a representative range of Asian American literature, providing a sense of the diversity of the field and of its key themes and modes of writing * Provides close readings of key texts in the form of case studies in their cultural, historical and critical contexts * Encourages reflection on questions of literary value, canonicity and the scope and purpose of literary studies