Twayne's United States authors series ;

Provides an analysis of Wilder's ninevolume chronicle of her pioneer childhood.

A critical analysis of the works of Arnold Lobel.

A study of the life and writings of Michener including analyses of all his books and many of his shorter pieces.

This book presents information on Paula Danziger's life and critical commentary on her writings.

With H. L. Mencken Revisited, historian and scholar William H. A. Williams presents a thorough and up-to-date revision of his acclaimed 1977 study of Mencken. Integrating two decades of new scholarship and addressing recently disclosed materials and allegations, Williams provides readers with a highly readable and authoritative overview of Mencken's lifework. Ably fulfilling its goal of furnishing an intellectual biography and showing how Mencken's ideas developed and changed over time, the volume chronicles Mencken's vision of the artist-iconoclast, appraises his contributions to American thought and letters, traces his transition from literary to sociocultural critic, and explores his major themes and views on pre- and postwar society. The study also incorporates new sections on Theodore Dreiser, the South, African Americans, and the question of racism, and concludes by placing Mencken within the tradition of American critics of democracy. Mencken's writing, Williams observes, shows "courage, conviction, and serious commitment to ideals." Yet "deeper still, we catch glimpses of a sad, lonely man, unable to integrate the contradictory forces he tried to contain."

This book is an account of the life and works (but mostly works) of a mid-ninteenth century writer, Bayard Taylor, who was immensely popular in his own day, but who is today not very well known.

This best-selling children's author is well known for her touching stories about true-to-life characters and marked by striking landscapes and memorable themes of community, friendship, and human goodness. Though she came to writing relatively late in life, MacLachlan in fifteen years has produced two short story collections, seven picture books, and eight novels, including Sarah, Plain and Tall, winner of the 1986 Newbery Medal and the basis for a Hallmark Hall of Fame television production starring Glenn Close. For Sarah and its sequel, Skylark, as well as for Arthur, for the Very First Time, Cassie Binegar, Journey, and Baby, MacLachlan has earned nearly every prestigious award bestowed on children's writers, including the Golden Kite Award, ALA Notable Book citations, the Scott O'Dell Historical Fiction Award, and, for the body of her work, the University of Southern Mississippi Medallion. Yet despite a glowing critical reception and a huge popular following, MacLachlan and her works have largely not received the scholarly attention they deserve. Correcting this imbalance comes David L. Russell's Patricia MacLachlan, the first full-length critical study of the writer's accomplishments to date. Organized chronologically and with an emphasis on the novels, the volume presents readers with an excellent guide to appreciating MacLachlan's contributions to and place in children's literature. A solid introduction to a writer whose celebrations of family and the human spirit are lyrical, Patricia MacLachlan will find a ready audience among scholars, librarians, and high school and college students and their teachers.