Ideas for Book Groups and Individuals
Who Like to Thoroughly Explore a Topic

Many reading opportunities about the immigrant experience are available, fiction and nonfiction, historic and contemporary. These titles cover a variety of topics relating to the experience, and are gleaned from a number of sources, including personal references, expert bibliographies, references in secondary sources, and websites. Roberta Simone’s The Immigrant Experience in American Fiction: An Annotated Bibliography, The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1995, is an excellent resource for finding out what a book is about before you embark.  

Fiction

The immigrant experience in fiction is a prominent theme in 20th century literature. This is just a short list of the many authors who have chosen to make it a theme in their creative works. Be sure to search for multiple works by these and other authors.

• Ibrahim Ajibode, Diary of an Immigrant: In Pursuit of the American Dream. iUniverse, Inc. 2006.
• Julia Alvarez, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents. Plume, 1992.
• Rudolfo Anaya, Heart of Aztlan. Editorial Justa, 1976.
• Charles Angoff, Journey to the Dawn. A.S. Barnes, 1951.
• Alberic Archambault, Mill Village. Bruce Humphries, 1943.
• Joseph Auslander and Audrey Wurdemann, My Uncle Jan. Longmans, Green, 1948.
• Harry Barba, For the Grape Season. Macmillan, 1960
• Helen Barolini, Umbertina. Seaview Books, 1979.
• Thomas Bell, Out of This Furnace. University of Pittsburgh Press, 1941.
• Saul Bellow, Mr. Sammler’s Planet. Viking, 1970.
• Yun Ching Bezine, Children of the Pearl. Signet, 1991.
• Carlos Bulosan, America is in the Heart. Harcourt Brace & Company, 1943.
• Robert Olen Butler, A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain. Henry Holt, 1992.
• Abraham Cahan, Yekl, A Tale of the New York Ghetto. (1896) Dover, 1970.
• Lan Cao, Monkey Bridge. Viking, 1997.
• Willa Cather, My Ántonia. Houghton Mifflin, 1917.
• Jerome Charyn. American Scrapbook. Viking Press, 1969.
• Frank Chin, Donald Duk. Coffee House, 1991.
• Sandra Cisneros, The House on Mango Street. Arte Publico, 1984.
• Mary Doyle Curran, The Parish and the Hill. Houghton Mifflin, 1948..
• Borghild Dahl, Homecoming. Dutton, 1953.
• Edwidge Danticat, Breath, Eyes, Memory. Soho, 1994.
• David C. De Jong, With a Dutch Accent. Harper and Brothers, 1944.
• Junot Diaz, Drown. Riverhead Books, 1996.
• Junot Diaz, The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Riverhead, 2007.
• Theodore Dreiser, Jennie Gerhardt. Harper and Brothers, 1911.
• Mylene Dressler, The Deadwood Beetle. BlueHen Books, 2001.
• Olof A. Eriksen, Memoirs of an Immigrant. Outskirts Press. 2008.
• James T. Farrell, Studs Lonigan: A Trilogy. Vanguard, 1935.
• Edna Ferber, So Big. Doubleday, Page, 1924.
• Ernesto Galarza, Barrio Boy. Notre Dame University Press, 1971.
• Cristina Garcia, Dreaming in Cuban. Knopf, 1992.
• Joseph Geha, Through and Through: Toledo Stories. Greywolf, 1990.
• Emilian Glocar, A Man from the Balkans. Dorrance, 1942.
• Herbert Gold, Fathers: A Novel in the Form of a Memoir. Random House, 1967.
• Michael Gold, Jews Without Money. Liveright, 1930.
• Mary Gordon, The Other Side. Viking Penguin, 1989.
• David Guterson, Snow Falling on Cedars. Harcourt Brace, 1994.
• Hermann Hagedorn, The Hyphenated Family. Macmillan, 1960.
• Richard Hagopian, Wine for the Living. Scribner’s, 1956.
• Ursula Hegi, The Vision of Emma Blau. Simon and Schuster, 2000.
• Joanna Hershon, The German Bride: A Novel. Ballantine Books. 2008.
• Oscar Hijuelos, The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love. Harper Perennial, 1991.
• Marjorie Housepian, A Houseful of Love. Random House, 1957.
• Edward Ifkovic, Anna Marinkovich. Maryland Books, 1980.
• Charles E. Jarvis, The Tyrants. Ithaca Press, 1972.
• Gish Jen, Typical American. Houghton Mifflin, 1991.
• Younghill Kang, East Goes West. Scribner’s, 1937.
• Elia Kazan, America, America. Stein and Day, 1962.
• Elia Kazan, The Anatolian. Knopf, 1982.
• Jack Kerouac. Doctor Sax: Faust, Part Three. Harcourt Brace, 1959.
• Jamaica Kincaid, Lucy. Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux, 1990.
• Maxine Hong Kingston, China Men. Knopf, 1980.
• Jerzy Kosinski, The Painted Bird. Houghton Mifflin, 1965.
• Ruby R. Krider, Time and Tide. Dorrance, 1968.
• Jhumpa Lahiri. Unaccustomed Earth. Knopf. 2008.
• Wendy Law-Yone, The Coffin Tree. Knopf, 1983.
• Robert Laxalt, Sweet Promised Land. Harper and Brothers, 1957.
• Vera Lebedeff, The Heart Returneth. Lippincott, 1943.
• Chang-rae Lee, Native Speaker. Riverhead Books, 1995.
• Jennifer B. Lee, The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food. Twelve, 2008.
• Milla Zenovich Logan, Bring Along Laughter. Random House, 1947.
• Paule Marshall, Brown Girl, Brown Stones. Random House, 1959.
• Ruthanne Lum McCunn, Thousand Pieces of Gold. Design Enterprises, 1981.
• Claude McKay, Home to Harlem. Harper and Brothers, 1928.
• Dinaw Mengestu, The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears. Riverhead Hardcover, 2007.
• Grace de Repentigny Metalious, No Adam in Eden. Trident, 1967.
• Kazuo Miyamoto, Hawaii, End of the Rainbow. Tuttle, 1964.
• Bharati Mukherjee, Jasmine. Grove, 1989.
• Vladimir Nabokov, Pnin. Heinemann, 1960.
• Peter Najorian, Daughters of Memory. City Miner Books, 1986.
• Fae Myenne Ng. Steer Toward Rock. Hyperion. 2008.
• John Okada, No-No Boy. Charles E. Tuttle, 1957.
• Tillie Olsen, Tell Me a Riddle. Delacorte, 1960.
• Joseph O’Neill. Netherland: A Novel. Random House Inc., 2008
• Ty Pak. Guilt Payment. Bamboo Ridge Press, 1983.
• Harry Petrakis, Days of Vengeance. Doubleday, 1983.
• Chaim Potok, In the Beginning. Knopf, 1975.
• Mario Puzo, The Fortunate Pilgrim. Atheneum, 1964.
• Nahid Rachlin, Foreigner. Norton, 1978.
• Nahid Rachlin, Married to a Stranger. Dutton, 1983.
• Gerard Robichaud, Papa Martel. All Saints, 1961.
• Roll, Elvira Osorio. Hawaii’s Kohala Breezes. Exposition Press, 1964.
• Ole Rolvaag, Giants in the Earth. Harper, 1927.
• Leo C. Rosten (aka Leonard Q. Ross), The Education of H*y*m*a*n K*a*p*l*a*n. Harcourt, Brace, 1937.
• Henry Roth, Call It Sleep. R.O. Ballou, 1934.
• Shirley Schoonover. Mountains of Winter. Coward-McCann, 1962.
• Upton Singer, The Jungle. Doubleday, Page, 1906.
• Isaac Bashevis Singer, Enemies: A Love Story. Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 1972.
• Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Blakiston, 1943.
• Gary Soto, Living Up The Street: Narrative Recollections. Strawberry Hill, 1985.
• Virgil Suárez, Welcome to the Oasis and Other Stories. Arte Publico, 1991.
• James W. Sullivan, Tenement Tales of New York. Henry Hold, 1895.
• Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club. Putnam’s, 1989.
• Shaun Tan. The Arrival. Arthur A. Levine Books. 2007.
• Piri Thomas, Down These Mean Streets. Knopf, 1967.
• Yoshiko Uchida, Picture Bride. Simon and Schuster, 1987.
• Gina Valdez, There are No Madmen Here. Arte Publico, 1981.
• Mircea Vasiliu, Which Way to the Melting Pot? Doubleday, 1963.
• Victor G. Vecki, Threatening Shadows. Stratford, 1931.
• Anzia Yezierska, Bread Givers, A Novel: A Struggle Between a Father of the Old World and a Daughter of the New. 1925. Persea Books, 1975.
• Sophus Keith Winther, Trilogy – Take All to Nebraska (1936); Mortgage Your Heart (1937); and This Passion Never Dies (1938).
• Shawn Wong, Homebase. I Reed Books, 1979.
• Kao Kalia Yang. The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir. Coffee House Press. 2008
   

Non-Fiction

• Schenone, Laura. The Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken: A Search for Food and Family. Norton, 2007.
• Eva Hoffman, Lost in Translation: A Life in a New Language. E.P. Dutton, 1989.
• Maxine Hong Kingston, The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts. Knopf, 1976.
• Hilda Satt Polacheck, I Came A Stranger: The Story of A Hull-House Girl. University of Illinois Press, 1989.
• Esmeralda Santiago, When I Was Puerto Rican: A Memoir. Addison-Wesley, 1993.
• Calvin Trillin, Messages from My Father. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1996.
   

Reference

• Bankston, Carl L. III, and Danielle Antoinette Hidalgo, eds. Immigration in U.S. History. Salem Press, Inc. 2006. 2 volumes.
• Brown, Mary Elizabeth. Shapers of the Great Debate on Immigration: A Biographical Dictionary. Greenwood Press, 1999.
• Brownstone, David M. and Irene M. Franck. Facts About American Immigration. The H.W. Wilson Company, 2001
• Ciment, James, ed. Encyclopedia of American Immigration. M.E. Sharpe, 2000. 3 volumes.
• Cordasco, Francesco. Dictionary of American Immigration History. The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1990.
• Gibney, Matthew J. and Randall Hansen, eds. Immigration and Asylum: From 1900 to the Present. ABC-CLIO, 2005. 3 volumes.