Examines the representation of trauma in contemporary American fiction and non-fiction This book looks at the way writers present the effects of trauma in their work. It explores narrative devices, such as 'metafiction', as well as events in contemporary America, including 9 11, the Iraq War, and reactions to the Bush administration. Contemporary American authors who are discussed in depth include Carol Shields, Toni Morrison, Tim O'Brien, Mark Danielewski, Art Spiegelman, Jonathan Safran Foer, Anthony Swofford, Evan Wright, Paul Auster, Philip Roth, and Michael Chabon. Contemporary American Trauma Narratives offers a timely and dissenting intervention into debates about American writers' depiction of trauma and its after-effects.