A multicultural array of poets explore what it is means to be American

This powerful and moving collection of poems stretches across the boundaries of skin color, language, ethnicity, and religion to give voice to the lives and experiences of ethnic Americans. With extraordinary honesty, dignity, and insight, these poems address common themes of assimilation, communication, and self-perception. In recording everyday life in our many American cultures, they displace the myths and stereotypes that pervade our culture.

Unsettling America includes work by:

Amiri Baraka
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Rita Dove
Louise Erdich
Jessica Hagedorn
Joy Harjo
Garrett Hongo
Li-Young Lee
Pat Mora
Naomi Shihab Nye
Marye Percy
Ishmael Reed
Alberto Rios
Ntozake Shange
Gary Soto
Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Nellie Wong
David Hernandez
Mary TallMountain

...and many more.