Review by Choice Review
Although the subtitle leads one to believe that the information sources listed range through the 45 years indicated, in fact, as the introduction states, they represent publications only from 1965 to early 1990. The time period for American theater and drama covered, however, is intended to be 1945-1990. There is something unsatisfying about this work. The 536 entries are annotated; annotations are "factual, critical, and comparative when appropriate" (introd.). The volume is divided into 11 sections whose titles clearly describe the major subjects covered; it even includes a "Major Databases" section. An "Alternate Theater Sources" section treats black, Jewish, Spanish-speaking, and musical theater. It is a bibliography; it reads like a term paper. The introduction lists nine "existing reference works," with minimal negative statements justifying why none does what the present work purports to do. There is an author index. More useful would have been a subject index: even if one knows there is a Hoblitzelle theater library, one cannot find it in the index (it is entry 75 in the "General Reference Sources" section). In the database section, DIALOG files 426 and 427, OCLC EPIC, and the MLA International Bibliography on WILSONDISC constitute half of the listed sources. There is a need for bibliographic materials to help the theater researcher through the overabundant wilderness of sources available on American theater and drama since 1945. This work, however, is recommended only for collections oriented to the most patient and undemanding clientele neither undergraduates nor advanced researchers.-R. G. Stephen, Rider College
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
