Perhaps the most defining characteristic of American literature composed after World War II is the rejection of conventional form and structure with its increasingly uninhibited and experimental style. Embracing works from previously marginalized groups like African Americans and women and ushering in new genres, contemporary American literature has progressively begun to mirror the American population in diversity and versatility. In this volume, readers are invited to think critically about the social issues and ideas that are as much a part of modern American life as they are of modern American literature.