Southern Black creative writers, 1829-1953 : biobibliographies /

Some 230 writers are included, and for each the compiler has provided, in addition to a publication history, a brief summary of educational background, occupation, and honors and awards obtained. The most important feature of any work of this kind is the careful selection of those names to be included. Foster (Florida A & M University) has chosen well. Such notables as Sterling Brown, Mercer Cook, and James Weldon Johnson can be found in many sources, but Richard Pitts, a poet of Mashuville, Mississippi, and Mary Gunner of Lexington, Kentucky, the author of a pageant, will probably be found only in this book. Inclusion of lesser-known authors makes this volume useful. On the negative side, the compiler does not explain why 1953 was chosen as a cutoff point. Pre-1953 titles are given directly after the author's name, but those published after 1953 are listed in the body of the biographical sketch. One thus needs to look in two places for any comprehensive list of publications. Graphic design could be improved: the eye does not go quickly to the author's name since it is set flush with the biographical sketch. Several helpful appendixes and a bibliography of frequently used sources follow the main text. Recommended as a supplement to other bibliographies of black literature and will be useful where upper-division undergraduate courses in that literature are taught. -D. C. Dickinson, University of Arizona