From Booklist
One of the best known figures of the Harlem Renaissance get volume-length reference treatment in this guide. A chronology and a brief overview of Hurston's life are followed by A-Z entries covering Hurston's works, characters, themes and motifs, family members, and acquaintances.The entries for important works are generally the longest--two pages each for Dust Tracks on the Road and Their Eyes Were Watching God, for example--and include discussion of the work's genesis, plot, and critical reception. These entries also provide lists of materials for further reading. Entries for themes and motifs such as death, love, and trains offer brief explanations of the theme's overall meaning in Hurston's work as well as the use of the theme in individual works. Remaining entries treat individuals both real (such as anthropologist Franz Boas, who encouraged her folklore research, and convicted murderer Ruby McCollum, about whom she wrote several articles) and fictional. Because some characters, such as Jim Weston, the protagonist of the play Mule Bone, show up in several different works, this book is especially helpful for sorting through what the author calls "the intertextuality of Hurston's writing."An appendix lists the contents of collections of Hurston manuscripts, correspondence, and other materials. An extensive bibliography lists primary materials by Hurston (including book reviews and newspaper articles as well as books, plays, short stories, and essays) and selected secondary materials.Researchers will need to turn to other sources for more biographical and critical information, but this volume should be valuable to have on hand to support the study of Hurston's writings and life. It is recommended for public and academic libraries; high-school libraries might also consider it. RBB
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Review
Croft has done a skillful job chronicling and organizing the lfe and works of an extrodinary writer. Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and graduate students.Choice

Book Description
Anthropologist and author Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960) is one of the most significant African American writers of the 20th century. Born in Alabama, she grew up in a small town in Florida, where she developed an interest in African American folklore. In 1925 she moved to New York and became part of the Harlem Renaissance. She continued her anthropological research, and African American folklore is central to her fiction. This reference includes hundreds of alphabetically arranged entries on her works, characters, themes, motifs, family members, and acquaintances. Entries on the most important topics close with suggestions for further reading, and the volume concludes with extensive primary and secondary bibliographies. In addition, the book includes a short biography and chronology.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"This reference is a convenient and thorough guide to the life and writings of writer and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960), one of the most significant African-American novelists of the twentieth century." "Born in Alabama, she grew up in Eatonville, a small town populated entirely by African-Americans near Orlando, Florida, where she developed an interest in African-American folklore. In 1925 she moved to New York and became a part of the Harlem Renaissance. She continued her anthropological research, and African-American folklore remained central to her fiction. Although she died in relative obscurity, her literary reputation has been resurrected and raised to a height that she probably would not have imagined. Today her place in the canon of American literature is unquestioned." This book outlines the major events and significant accomplishments of her life, and a short biography offers a narrative assessment of her career. The core of the book presents an alphabetical arrangement of Hurston's works, characters, themes, family members, and acquaintances. Entries for the most important topics include suggestions for further reading, and the volume also includes an extensive primary bibliography listing publication information about Hurston's novels, plays, short stories, nonfiction articles, book reviews, newspaper articles, and poems. A secondary bibliography presents an exhaustive list of Hurston criticism, research, and reviews of her works.

SYNOPSIS