We recommend these books on American studies and ethnicity. Our friend Craig Hendrickson helped prepare this list. We welcome your comments and recommendations.
Cornell, Stephen, and Douglas Hartmann. Ethnicity and Race. Newbury Park, Calif.: Pine Forge, 2007. Explores the various forces that construct ethnic and racial identities over time at the group level, such as politics, social institutions, culture and labor markets.
Gallagher, Charles A., ed. Rethinking the Color Line. 3rd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2007. A compilation of writings from selected race scholars providing an overview of the racial dynamics characteristic of American society.
Omi, Michael, and Howard Winant. Racial Formation in the United States. New York: Routledge, 1994. Posits ways in which racial categories are created, maintained and transformed at the individual and group level through racial projects.
Stewart, Edward C., and Milton J. Bennett. American Cultural Patterns. Rev. ed. Yarmouth, Maine: Intercultural Press, 1991. A helpful analysis of white American middle-class patterns of thinking and behavior compared with other cultures.
Takaki, Ronald. A Different Mirror. Rev. ed. New York: Back Bay, 2008. A very readable narration of America’s history with attention to perspectives of oppressed minority groups.
———. A Larger Memory. New York: Back Bay, 1998. Helps the reader develop awareness and empathy by experiencing America through the personal stories of individuals from minority cultures.
Wuthnow, Robert. American Mythos. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2006. Examines the narratives and embedded cultural assumptions, from the viewpoint of immigrants, that both legitimize American society and prevent it from fully realizing its ideals.
