Compiled by David Cohen
Director
EMIE, Queens College (City University of New York)
2000

Annie John, Jamaica Kincaid.  Set against the backdrop of West Indian culture, this is the story of Annie, from her childhood to the emotional crisis of adolescence that takes her away from Antigua, her island home. (1985).

The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, by Ernest J. Gaines.  A fictional story of a 110 Black woman recounting her life as a slave on a southern plantation and the saga of racial injustice in the sixties. (1971).

Baseball In April and Other Stories, by Gary Soto.  Eleven revealing short stories about the adventures of young Mexican Americans in Fresno, California. (1990).

Beloved, by Toni Morrison.  A historical yet mystical novel set in Ohio inthe 19th century (1855-1873), haunted by the painful subject of slavery. (1987).

Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo A. Anaya.  Experiences of the members of Latino family's members in New Mexico where the youngest one, Antonio, searches for his identity. Fiction. (1972).

Call It Sleep, by Henry Roth.  An exceptional fictional account of the childhood of Jewish children in the streets of the Brooklyn neighborhood Brownsville. (1934).

The Chosen, by Chaim Potok.  The extraordinary friendship of two Jewish adolescents, one religious and the other not. Fiction. (1967).

The Color Purple, by Alice Walker.  This fictional story of a black family's growth, set in the rural South about 1909, portrays the loving relationship between two sisters and their struggle against mistreatment by men. (1982).

The Dream Book: An Anthology of Writings by Italian American Women, edited by Helen Barolini.  A collection of writings of more than fifty women, including a play, prose, poetry, oral history and fiction; with an introduction explaining the rationale of the authors' long silence. (1985).

Family Installments: Memories of Growing Up Hispanic, by Edward Rivera.  Fictional account of a Hispanic family's experiences in Puerto Rico and New York. (1982).

The Fortunate Pilgrim, by Mario Puzo.  A chronicle of Italian roots and an Italian woman's struggle for the American dream of a house in the suburbs. Fiction. (1964).

Harriet's Daughter, by Marlene Philip. A novel highlighting lives of young adults facing problems in Tobago, the West Indies, a multiracial society. (1988).

The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros.  A novel reflecting the author's experience as a Latino girl growing up in the barrios of Chicago.(1984).

In Nueva York, by Nicholasa Mohr.  Eight short stories about a Puerto Rican community on New York's Lower East Side. (1977).

Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison.  A fictional chronicle of African-American invisibility ser in Harlem, New York. (1952).

Ironweed, by William Kennedy.  A novel set in Albany, New York depicting the skid row life of Irish Americans during the Depression. (1983).

Jasmine, by Bharati Mukherjee.  The protagonist of the novel is a seventeen-year-old widow of Hindu origin who escapes to the United States and has unusual experiences as an undocumented alien. (1989).

Jews Without Money, by Michael Gold.  A classic story of Jewish Americans on New York's East Side in the 1930's during the Depression. (1959).

A Measure of Time, Rosa Guy.  A novel about a self-made millionaire woman and her relations with other Afro-Americans and Afro-Caribbeans, set in Harlem, New York. (1983).

Mr. Sammler's Planet, by Saul Bellow.  A story of the adjustment of a Jewish family in New York who survived the Holocaust. (1964).

Native Son, by Richard Wright.  A classic story involving an African American who runs the gamut from petty thievery and murder as an outcome of racism and prejudice. (1940).

No-no Boy, by John Okada.  A fictional story about a Japanese American who refuses the draft in WWII, and the suffering that befell the Japanese American community. (1977).

Our House in the Last World, by Oscar Hijuelos.  A novel highlighting the interaction between the Cuban American and the Puerto Rican communties in Harlem, New York in the 1950s. (1983).

San Souci and Other Stories, by Dionne Brand.  The Black women in these stories pursue their lives with dignity and strength despite the challenges of racism and sexism. (1989).

Scent of Apples, by Bienvenido N. Santos.  Sixteen short stories, each focusing on the lives of Filipinos in foreign countries, including Filipino-Americans. (1979).

Thousand Pieces of Gold, by Ruthanne Lum McCunn.  Based on true story, a novel featuring lives of Chinese women in an Idaho mining town. (1981).

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith.  The classic story of an Irish family in the Williamsburg section in Brooklyn, New York, in the early 1900's. (1973).

World Without End, Amen, by Jimmy Breslin.  The hero of this novel, an Irish policeman from Queens, goes on Northern Ireland to discover a female revolutionary leader. (1973).

Yellow Roses, by Elizabeth Cullinan.  Twelve short stories dealing with family members of the close-knit Irish American world. (1977).

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