Despite their significant contributions to the American theater, African American dramatists have received less critical attention than novelists and poets. This reference offers thorough critical assessments of the lives and works of African American playwrights from the 19th century to the present. The book alphabetically arranges entries on more than 60 dramatists, including James Baldwin, Arna Bontemps, Ossie Davis, Zora Neale Hurston, and Richard Wright. Each entry is written by an expert contributor and includes a biography, a discussion of major works and themes, a summary of the playwright's critical reception, and primary and secondary bibliographies. The volume closes with a selected, general bibliography. African American dramatists have made enormous contributions to the theater and their works are included in numerous editions and anthologies. Some of the most popular plays of the 20th century have been written by African Americans, and high school students and undergraduates study their works. But for all their popularity and influence, African American playwrights have received less critical attention than poets and novelists. This reference offers thorough critical assessments of more than 60 African American dramatists from the 19th century to the present. Grade 9 Up–Sixty-one African-American playwrights are profiled, from actor/abolitionist Ira Aldridge to Black Arts/West theater founder Marvin X. The variety of entries provides a historical perspective of African-American theater by including artists like Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson, who performed in local churches and community halls in the late 1800s, to current award-winning Broadway artists such as Suzan-Lori Parks. Each entry includes a biographical profile, "Major Works and Themes," "Critical Reception," and bibliographies of the playwrights' works and author analysis. Footnotes identify the source of the excerpted critical reviews. Noted playwrights such as August Wilson and Amiri Baraka have lengthier entries in which individual plays such as Jitney and Dutchman are discussed in detail, and in context of the author's evolution in African-American theater. Acclaimed Harlem Renaissance playwrights such as Wallace Thurman, Langston Hughes, and Zora Neale Hurston are included, as well as Arna Bontemps, Ron Milner, and Richard Bruce Nugent. Overall, these up-to-date narratives are readable and engaging, providing important critical analysis for students, particularly for lesser-known artists now finding their place in history. –Vicki Reutter, Cazenovia High School, NY Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. In addition to offering biocritical sketches for 61 writers from the last 150 years, this title has a selected bibliography for further research and an index (primarily author and title). Signed entries follow a general format: biographical information, overview of major works and themes, description of the critical reception, and bibliographies of dramatic works by the artist and studies of those dramatic works. The average length of each entry is about 8 pages, but the length ranges from 4 to 21 pages. The usual names are present--James Baldwin, Lorraine Hansberry, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and Richard Wright--as well as writers who are commanding more attention, among them Pearl Cleage, Angelina Weld Grimke, and Suzan Lori-Parks. The essays are generally clear and readable. Although there are other competing sets, African American Dramatists includes some writers who are seldom covered elsewhere. Among other sources for African American dramatists are Early Black American Playwrights and Dramatic Writers (Greenwood, 1990) and its companion, Contemporary Black American Playwrights and Their Plays (Greenwood, 1988); this pair has the greatest overlap with African American Dramatists , with 54 shared entries. The Dictionary of Literary Biography (Gale, 2005) and Contemporary Authors (Gale, 2005) combine to provide 49 shared entries. Greenwood's set American Playwrights, 1880-1945 (1994) and its companion, American Playwrights since 1945 (1989), though, share only 8 persons with African American Dramatists . Nelson has edited and written several other books that include African American, American, and multicultural writers. This one does have significant overlap with standard sources, but because of its inclusion of harder-to-find writers and its single-volume convenience, it is recommended for academic and public libraries. Joseph Thomas Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved EMMANUEL S. NELSON is Professor of English at the State University of New York, Cortland. His many books include African American Authors, 1745-1945 (2000), Contemporary African American Novelists (1999), African American Autobiographers (2002), and Contemporary Gay American Poets and Playwrights (2003), all available from Greenwood Press.