The contributors to this book challenge the usual boundaries of 'post-colonial' theory. Focusing on American literature, they examine how America's own imperial history has shaped the literatures that have emerged from within America – for instance, from Native American, Latino, Black and Asian-American writers. They contrast this with postcolonial literatures from countries whose history has been shaped by American colonialism – from Canada, Central America and the Caribbean to Hawaii, Indonesia and Vietnam. In this way the contributors explore key questions about national identity and multiculturalism: why, for instance, is a Native writer categorised within 'American literature' if writing on one side of the border, but as 'Canadian' and 'post-colonial' if writing on the other? This is a challenging collection that raises questions not only about the boundaries of post-colonial theory, but also about ethnicity and multiculturalism, and the impact of immigration and assimilation - issues that lie at the heart of the literary curriculum.