Description: A comprehensive introduction to the work of the preeminent Afro-American playwright of his generation, focusing on Wilson's ten-play cycle and their context.
Brief description: Alan Nadel is William T. Bryan Chair in American Literature and Culture at the University of Kentucky, USA. He is the author of six books on post-WWII American literature, including: The Theatre of August Wilson (Methuen Drama, 2018), Demographic Angst: Cultural Narratives and American Films of the 1950s (2017), Containment Culture (1995), and Invisible Criticism: Ralph Ellison and the American Canon (1994). He has also edited of two volumes of essays on August Wilson, August Wilson: Completing the 20th-Century Cycle (2010) and May All Your Fences Have Gates (1994).
Review Quotes: "The Theatre of August Wilson is an illuminating examination of Wilson's ten-play African American history cycle as US history. For the benefit of those who need it, Nadel (Univ. of Kentucky) provides a refresher on Plessy v. Ferguson and the theological disputes of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X alongside explanations of how Wilson's plays reflect and interrogate these and other historical milestones ... Summing Up: Recommended." - CHOICE