"August Wilson (1945-2005) was a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright who had a particular talent for capturing the authentic, everyday voice of Black Americans. As a child, he read off soup cans and cereal boxes, and when his mother brought him to the library, his whole world opened up. After facing intense prejudice at school from both students and some teachers, August dropped out. However, he continued reading and educating himself independently....

Represents the diversity and productivity of American drama since 1900. The careers of playwrights whose works achieved notable popularity as well as critical success are presented in some detail. Emphasis is placed on biography and a synthesis of the critical reception of authors' works.

Represents the diversity and productivity of American drama since 1900. The careers of playwrights whose works achieved notable popularity as well as critical success are presented in some detail. Emphasis is placed on biography and a synthesis of the critical reception of authors' works.

A memoir that the author refers to as a book of portraits.

"Written when she was just twenty-eight, Lorraine Hansberry's landmark A Raisin in the Sun is listed by the National Theatre as one of the hundred most significant works of the twentieth century. Hansberry was the first Black woman to have a play performed on Broadway, and the first Black and youngest American playwright to win a New York Critics' Circle Award. Charles J. Shields's authoritative biography of one of the twentieth century's most admired...

"Since 1939, Horton Foote, "the Chekhov of the small town," has chronicled with compassion and acuity the experience of American life both intimate and universal. His adaptation of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird and his original screen play Tender Mercies earned him Academy Awards. He has won a Pulitzer Prize, the Gold Medal for Drama from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the PEN/Laura Pels Foundation Award for Drama, and the President's...

Traces the story of the playwright, Congresswoman, and first American female to be appointed to a major ambassadorial position abroad, covering such topics as her advocacy of women's equality and the deep personal losses that shaped her life.