Includes bibliographical references (pages 166-175).

Although this book focuses on American social drama in the 1930s, its greatest contribution is the juxtaposition of two very different playwrights of the period, Clifford Odets and Lillian Hellman. Reynolds often has cogent insights, as when he writes "whereas Odets used melodramatic scenes through which he could state social polemics, Hellman used social problems as background for what most critics finally agree is extremely well-executed melodrama." It points out how mercurial theater audiences in the 1930s caused playwrights to make drastic adaptations. Such adaptations were sometimes mistaken for compromise. ISBN 0-87875-311-7: $22.50.

SACFinal081324