Studying the Americas as if geopolitical boundaries were the primary element of differentiation has proved to be the result of bias more than scholarly judgment. This collection of 15 essays works toward an interdisciplinary approach that favors the regional and cultural over the merely national. It provides new insights on the real meaning of Jamestown, colonial racial intermingling, complex urban identities, the gothic side of conquest, the development of an "American Mediterranean," the complex and disparate forces within Reconstruction, the ever-shifting spaces between Central America and the Southern US, Paul Robeson's representations of New World racism, literature with African American and Latin American influences, US efforts at cultural diplomacy, the Pan American Union, African Americans in comics and film, the Islamic in the literature of the Americas, observations about the hemispheres by Yamashita, and the experiences of Latinos in Canada. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)