Full Text Review(s)

"In this introduction to this well-crafted and beautifully designed encyclopedia, editor Michael D. Sharp notes that in a literary context the term "popular" has always been a double-edged sword. While it should seem positive for an author’s work to be embraced by a wide audience, popularity may also carry a connotation of commonness or catering to the lowest possible denominator. Recently, however, many teachers and experts have begun questioning the validity of a supposed dichotomy between popularity and literary value, and this work, which is aimed at young readers, registers the importance of this trend.
For writers to be included in this 11-volume set, they had to be not only well regarded by youth but also judged valuable by a "significant number" of librarians and other educators, says Sharp, an assistant professor of English at Binghamton University. The 96 chosen are diverse and a number of selections surprising. Some are youthful idols in their prime, like J. K. Rowling; others, like John Updike and David McCullough, have been read by people of all ages for many years. Young new writers with tremendous talent like Zadie Smith are also represented. Diversity is also evident in types and genres of writing, encompassing not only poetry (e.g., Rita Dove, James Dickey) and conventional fiction (e.g., Dorothy Allison, Jane Smiley), but also mystery and crime (e.g. Patricia Cornwell, Patricia Highsmith), science fiction (e.g., Octavia Butler, Arthur C. Clarke), plays and film scripts (e.g., Laura Esquivel, August Wilson), journalism (e.g., Jon Krakauer, Jorge Ramos), and cartoons (e.g., Matt Groening, Lynda Barry).
There are 10 volumes of profiles, averaging about 15 pages of text and illustration, and an index volume. All profiles are signed and follow a consistent format, including a photograph and a one-page summary on the author and his or her significance, biographical essay with detailed chronology of important events, a section of accessible literary criticism and background, a reader’s guide to major works, and a section on less representative works. Critical sections contain short bibliographies, and articles end with a list of resources such as archives and Websites. Profiles are comprehensive, filled with new and surprising information, and beautifully illustrated with items ranging from an author’s own photographs to reproductions of thematically linked works of art. All 10 volumes end with a 2-page author/title index. The 11th volume contains a glossary and 11 different indexes, including a comprehensive index of writer; literary character; people, places, movements, and events; visual arts, and genres. This outstanding reference source should be highly enjoyed by youth and is recommended for public, school, and community college libraries."

"These wonderfully illustrated volumes guides delve, at a level accessible and interesting to high-school readers, into the major works of English-language writers of many genres. Combined, the 96 writers discussed here have sold billions of books. All but a few of them are American. Fiction writers who are covered include Jean Auel, Arthur C. Clarke, Michael Chabon, Tom Clancy, Frank Herbert, Stephen King, Gary Paulsen, Mario Puzo, Anne Rice, J.K. Rowling, and John Updike. Nonfiction writers include Dave Barry, Bill Bryson, John Feinstein, Jon Krakauer, Frank McCourt, and David McCullough. Lynda Barry and Matt Groening are cartoonists. Billy Collins and Rita Dove are poets, while Neil Simon and August Wilson are playwrights. The genre index in Volume 11 makes finer distinctions such as biographers, children’s book writers, espionage writers, essayists, historians, and romance fiction writers. Other indexes list literary works; artists responsible for the art work reproduced throughout; film and television productions; literary characters; and people, places, and events. In addition, there is a detailed index of writers.
Length and format of articles vary by writer, but the 18-page entry for Isaac Asimov will serve as an example. It begins with birth and death places and dates, a photograph, a one-phrase "identification," and a paragraph summarizing Asimov’s significance. Several pages each are devoted to his life and his work, with five important novels or series discussed in somewhat greater detail in the "Reader’s Guide to Major Works." The entry concludes with short evaluative descriptions of four other works and a resource section describing the Isaac Asimov Archive at Boston University and two Asimov Web sites. Sidebars cover films based on Asimov’s works, highlights in Asimov’s life, some inspirations behind Asimov’s work, and a very selective (he wrote over 500 books) list of books with publication dates. At least a dozen attractive photographs—of robots, Asimov himself, paintings by Andy Warhol and Rufino Tamayo, a still from the film I Robot , etc.—enliven the entry. As with the companion sets, Great American Writers: Twentieth Century (2002) and Great World Writers: Twentieth Century (2004), the illustrations throughout are a cornucopia of delights.

There is no attempt at serious literary criticism here, just information designed to entice young adult and adult browsers to sample new writers and to learn more about their favorites. Highly recommended for high-school and public libraries."

"Designed to complement Great American Writers: Twentieth Century (2002) and Great World Writers: Twentieth Century (2003, both Marshall Cavendish), this alphabetically arranged encyclopedia offers information on 96 contemporary writers, primarily British and North American, whose works tend to mine populist as well as artistic veins–usually with bestselling results. Each extensive, readable entry opens with stage-setting biographical and critical comments, then goes on in successive sections to describe the writer’s life and career to date, examine his or her dominant themes in a critical light, summarize and evaluate major works, and close with leads to Web-based resources of interest. Each entry also features sidebars about literary influences or other topics, as well as several sharply reproduced portraits, film stills, and works of art with meaty captions. A comprehensive index and several specialized ones fill the final volume. While it would be easy to second-guess some choices here–why, for instance, such one-hit wonders as William Gibson and William Least Heat-Moon, but not Terry Pratchett or Sue Grafton (particularly as the introduction points to the rise of the female private investigator as a major modern development)–the assortment of scriptwriters and cartoonists, humorists, nonfiction writers, and journalists who join the canonical likes of Anne Rice, John Grisham, J. K. Rowling, Douglas Adams, Jean M. Auel, P. D. James, and company add unusual scope to this resource."