In this study, Charles Fanning has written the first general account of the origins and development of a literary tradition among American writers of Irish birth or background who have explored the Irish immigrant or ethnic experience in works of fiction.

" Winner of the American Conference for Irish Studies Prize for Literary Criticism The Irish Voice in America surveys the fiction written by the Irish in America over the past two hundred and fifty years. For this second edition, Fanning has added a chapter that covers the fiction of the past decade. He argues that contemporary writers continue to draw on Ireland as a source and are important chroniclers of the modern American experience.