Literature written in English by American writers of Portuguese descent has come of age with the acclaimed work of Frank Gaspar and Katherine Vaz. This study attempts to explore America's understanding of its ethnic minorities, and the writers' own ethnic pride and celebration of their roots. It includes a full length analysis of works by Thomas Braga, Julian Silva, Alfred Lewis, Charles Felix and other voices. Born in Portugal in 1961, Reinaldo Francisco Silva emigrated to America in 1967 at age 6, settling in Newark, New Jersey. He has lectured at Rutgers University, New York University, New Jersey Institute of Technology and Seton Hall University, and is currently Assistant Professor of English at the University of Aveiro in Portugal. His book, Representations of the Portuguese in American Literature was published by the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth in 2008. This title is available as a PDF ebook from Humanities-Ebooks.co.uk and for libraries from Ebrary, EBSCO and Ingram.