Growing up amidst the power politics of 1970s America, Birdie and her older sister Cole are so close they speak their own language. Daughters of a white activist mother and a black academic father, Birdie appears white, Cole black, their relationship a refuge from the rest of their lives. Yet when their parents separate, Birdie and Cole are thrown worlds apart. But Birdie's desperate need to reclaim her family forces her back on to the road, where her search for her sister becomes, inevitably, a search for her self. 'Twists serious issues - race, politics, identity, social and familial responsibility - around the structure of a compelling storyline ...an intelligent, questioning book that sparks with ideas' INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY

Young adult readers have special needs and concerns, and librarians have become increasingly interested in selecting books suitable for them. This reference provides information about 290 books for young adults. These books received major awards between 1997 and 2001, reflect the voices of 242 different authors, and range from new to familiar themes. Included are nearly 750 alphabetically arranged entries for individual works, authors, characters, and settings. Many of these books were originally written for adults but have become popular among younger readers. Entries for works provide plot summaries and critical assessments, while author entries focus on those aspects of the writers' lives most relevant to literature for young people. The reference is a valuable selection tool for librarians and teachers and a useful guide for students.

White identity is in ferment. White, European Americans living in the United States will soon share an unprecedented experience of slipping below 50% of the population. The impending demographic shifts are already felt in most urban centers and the effect is a national backlash of hyper-mobilized political, and sometimes violent, activism with a stated aim that is simultaneously vague and deadly clear: 'to take our country back.' Meanwhile the spectre of 'minority status' draws closer, and the material advantages of being born white are eroding. This is the political and cultural reality tackled by Linda Martín Alcoff in The Future of Whiteness. She argues that whiteness is here to stay, at least for a while, but that half of whites have given up on ideas of white supremacy, and the shared public, material culture is more integrated than ever. More and more, whites are becoming aware of how they appear to non-whites, both at home and abroad, and this is having profound effects on white identity in North America. The young generation of whites today, as well as all those who follow, will have never known a country in which they could take white identity as the unchallenged default that dominates the political, economic and cultural leadership. Change is on the horizon, and the most important battleground is among white people themselves. The Future of Whiteness makes no predictions but astutely analyzes the present reaction and evaluates the current signs of turmoil. Beautifully written and cogently argued, the book looks set to spark debate in the field and to illuminate an important area of racial politics.

This book is the first full-length study of contemporary American fiction of passing. Its takes as its point of departure the return of racial and gender passing in the 1990s in order to make claims about wider trends in contemporary American fiction. The book accounts for the return of tropes of passing in fiction by Phillip Roth, Percival Everett, Louise Erdrich, Danzy Senna, Jeffrey Eugenides and Paul Beatty, by arguing meta-critical and meta-fictional tool. These writers are attracted to the trope of passing because passing narratives have always foregrounded the notion of textuality in relation to the (il)legibility of “black” subjects passing as white. The central argument of this book, then, is that contemporary narratives of passing are concerned with articulating and unpacking an analogy between passing and authorship. Aimed at students and researchers, it promises to inaugurate dialogue on the relationships between passing, postmodernism and authorship in contemporary American fiction.

With the economic rise of the "Celtic Tiger" in the 1990s, Irish culture was deeply impacted by a concurrent rise in immigration. A nation tending to see itself as a land of emigrants suddenly saw waves of newcomers. In this book, Moynihan takes as her central question a formulation by sociologist Steve Garner: "What happens when other people’s diasporas converge on the homeland of diasporic people?" Approaching the question from a cultural rather than a sociological vantage point, Moynihan delves into fiction, drama, comedy, and cinema since 1998 to examine the various representations of and insights into race relations. "Other People’s Diasporas" draws upon the recent fiction of Joseph O’Connor, Roddy Doyle, and Emma Donoghue; films directed by Jim Sheridan and Eugene Brady; drama by Donal O’Kelly and Ronan Noone; and the comedy of Des Bishop to present a highly original and engaging exploration of contemporary Irish discourses on race.

American Fiction of the 1990s: Reflections of History and Culture brings together essays from international experts to examine one of the most vital and energized decades in American literature. This volume reads the rich body of 1990s American fiction in the context of key cultural concerns of the period. The issues that the contributors identify as especially productive include: Immigration and America’s geographical borders, particularly those with Latin America Racial tensions, race relations and racial exchanges Historical memory and the recording of history Sex, scandal and the politicization of sexuality Postmodern technologies, terrorism and paranoia American Fiction of the 1990s examines texts by established authors such as Don DeLillo, Toni Morrison, Philip Roth and Thomas Pynchon, who write some of their most ambitious work in the period, but also by emergent writers, such as Sherman Alexie, Chang-Rae Lee, E. Annie Proulx, David Foster Wallace, and Jonathan Franzen. Offering new insight into both the literature and the culture of the period, as well as the interaction between the two in a way that furthers the New American Studies, this volume will be essential reading for students and lecturers of American literature and culture and late twentieth-century fiction. Contributors include: Timothy Aubry, Alex Blazer, Kasia Boddy, Stephen J. Burn, Andrew Dix, Brian Jarvis, Suzanne W. Jones, Peter Knight, A. Robert Lee, Stacey Olster, Derek Parker Royal, Krishna Sen, Zoe Trodd, Andrew Warnes and Nahem Yousaf.

Harry S. Truman once said, "Ours is a nation of many different groups, of different races, of different national origins." And yet, the debate over what it means--and what it takes--to be an American remains contentious. Nationalist solidarity, many claim, requires a willful blending into the assimilationist alloy of these United States. Others argue that the interests of both nation and individual are best served by allowing multiple traditions to flourish--a salad bowl of identities and allegiances, rather than a melting pot. Tracing how Americans have confronted and relinquished, but mostly clung to group identities over the past century, Desmond King here debunks one of the guiding assumptions of American nationhood, namely that group distinction and identification would gradually dissolve over time, creating a "postethnic" nation. Over the course of the twentieth century, King shows, the divisions in American society arising from group loyalties have consistently proven themselves too strong to dissolve. For better or for worse, the often-disparaged politics of multiculturalism are here to stay, with profound implications for America's democracy. Americans have now entered a post-multiculturalist settlement in which the renewal of democracy continues to depend on groups battling it out in political trenches, yet the process is ruled by a newly invigorated and strengthened state. But Americans' resolute embrace of their distinctive identities has ramifications not just internally and domestically but on the world stage as well. The image of one-people American nationhood so commonly projected abroad camouflages the country's sprawling, often messy diversity: a lesson that nation-builders worldwide cannot afford to ignore as they attempt to accommodate ever-evolving group needs and the demands of individuals to be treated equally. Spanning the entire twentieth century and encompassing immigration policies, the nationalistic fallout from both world wars, the civil rights movement, and nation-building efforts in the postcolonial era, The Liberty of Strangers advances a major new interpretation of American nationalism and the future prospects for diverse democracies.