Ethnic Historians and the Mainstream links two different strands of academic writing that have become a part of late twentieth-century and early twenty-first-century discourse: the memoir as a genre of seeking historical ‘‘truths’’ and, in turn, the historiographical essay that traces legacies and the transformation of scholarly production. The latter is, of course, less new than the former. The methodological framework for this volume revolves around the question: ‘‘How do historians come by their calling as scholars and decide on the projects that eventuate in the books by which they become known?’’ (p. 3). In the published work of their contributors, the editors sensed ‘‘an unusual degree of empathy’’ with those they researched (p. 2). That they had coupled their own cultural otherness with the marginality of their subjects was, the editors argue here, something to be explored and explained.