A case study of the way in which ethnic identities are created and shaped by literature, focusing on the American image of the Pole from the 1830s to the present. Using a range of writings, it shows how the 19th-century view of the Pole as kindred spirit was supplanted by other literary models.

In Part 2, Gladsky explores the Polish self through the lens of contemporary "descent" writers such as Gary Gildner, Anthony Bukoski, Stuart Dybeck, Richard Bankowsky, and Anne Pellowski, who have created their own literary images while reflecting on their ethnic heritage. Throughout the book Gladsky links changing perceptions of Polish ethnicity to broader social and historial currents, showing how the Polish literary self has been a repository of American cultural history.