Starting in adolescence and continuing into young adulthood, our stories create our identities. However the process and the stories themselves are incredibly complex. This collection of 11 essays examine the issues of unity v. multiplicity, self v. society, and stability v. growth, covering such topics as multiplicity and conflict in the dialogical self, conflict and coherence in identity formation of gay and lesbian Orthodox Jews, a structural model of narrative identity, entertainment stories as a vehicle for self-development, collaborative constructions of everyday selves, making a gay identity through life stories and the construction of a coherent self, growth within the life story through causal connections and "self-making," the identities of Malcolm X, a narrative exploration of personal ideology and identity, and narrative forms and identity construction in the life stories of Israeli men and women. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) Read Less