American Ethnic Literature:A Study in Modern Perspectives is a standard reference book for the researchers and teachers of American ethnic literature.It examines the complex nature of American ethnicity as reflected in the twentieth century American literature.The book deals with the literature of three prominent ethnic communities in the American society: Jewish American, Afro American and Native American as represented by Bernard Malamud, Richard Wright, and Leslie Marmon Silko respectively.Different ethnic communities encounter different problems in the host American society in their process of assimilation and acculturation.Yet, in that process all try to imbibe some elements of Americanness without losing their individual ethnic identities.This lends uniqueness to the concept of American ethnicity.The tone and magnitude of ethnic consciousness is unique for all the ethnic groups.The book contests the traditional notion of America as a "Melting Pot" by bringing out the various elements of diversity and offers a meaningful insight into the nature of American ethnicity .The book focusses on three ethnic communities from a researcher's point of view and provides a bibliography.