How do views about the identities of authors influence interpretations of their works? Through close readings of texts by African American and women authors, "Minority Reports" offers a theoretical defense of the use of identity categories in American studies by examining how early American literature not only responds to the social stratification of the nineteenth century but also challenges modern historical conceptions of this era. By foregrounding the significance of early minority-authored texts to contemporary theoretical analysis, " Minority Reports" thus reconfigures traditional histories of racial, sexual, and gender identities, while it simultaneously reassesses recent paradigms for minority identity more generally.

Through close readings of texts by African American and women authors, Minority Reports offers a theoretical defense of the use of identity categories in American studies by examining how early American literature not only responds to the social stratification of the nineteenth century but also challenges modern historical conceptions of this era.