Baker & Taylor
Includes essays, analysis, and biographies of prominent literary figures of various genres and backgrounds in American literature.

Book News
Previous volumes of this excellent resource (the first of which was published in 1974) are cited in BCL3; now in print are four base volumes, four supplements, and a cumulative index. The fourth supplement (in two parts) contains essays on 35 male and female writers of diverse ethnic backgrounds, including Native American writers, Hispanic writers, and African American writers. Each essay integrates criticism with biographical detail, and balances cultural history and literary biography with an analysis of individual major works. Among the notable entries are Maya Angelou, Louis Auchincloss, James Dickey, Joan Didion, Anne Tyler, N. Scott Momaday, Alberto Alvaro Rios, Mark Strand, Paula Gunn Allen, Simon Ortiz, Leslie Marmon Silko, and Gore Vidal. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.