Imagining America: stories from the promised land

I. ARRIVING

In the land of the free / Sui Sin Far

The whipping / Marita Bonner

The English lesson / Nicholasa Mohr

The German refugee / Bernard Malamud

They won't crack it open / Kim Yong Ik

A wife's story / Bharati Mukherjee

Silver pavements, golden roofs / Chitra Divakaruni

The blossoming of Bongbong / Jessica Hagedorn

Children of the sea / Edwidge Danticat

II. BELONGING

His grace / Mikhail Naimy

Japanese hamlet / Toshio Mori

New year for Fong Wing / Monfoon Leong

Seventeen syllables / Hisaye Yamamoto

The lesson / Toni Cade Bambara

The death of Horatio Alger / LeRoi Jones, Amiri Baraka

In the American society / Gish Jen

Near the end of the world / Bruce Morrow

Don't explanin / Jewelle Gomez

Hungry dog / Agnes Rossi

III. CROSSINGS

The loudest voice / Grace Paley

The man to send rain clouds / Leslie Marmon Silko

American horse / Louise Erdrich

El Patrón / Nash Candelaria

Thank God for the Jews / Tahira Naqvi

Gussuk / Mei Mei Evans

Barbie-Q / Sandra Cisneros

Birthday / David Wong Louie

Borders / Thomas King

How to date a browngirl, blackgirl, whitegirl, or halfie / Junot Díaz

IV. REMEMBERING

Old West / Richard Bausch

Elethia / Alice Walker

Visitors, 1965 / Oscar Hijuelos

The disappearance / Jeanne Schinto

The chandelier / Gregory Orfalea

Five jack cool / Michael Stephens

To Da-Duh, in memoriam / Paule Marshall

Election day, 1984 / Michelle Cliff

A drug called tradition / Sherman Alexie.