Having covered the first quarter of the 20th century in the first volume of this work, this second volume provides an overview of notable plays of crime and punishment (with at least one
performance in the English language) for the following 25 years. Around 160 plays are profiled in chronological order, with each entry consisting of a plot summary, production data, discussion
of unique features, and a survey of the opinions of critics and scholars. Kabatchnik (a retired professor of theater) has not sought to be comprehensive, instead selecting works "of enduring
performance, pioneering contributions, singular innovations, outstanding commercial or artistic successes, and representative works by prolific playwrights in the genre." Among the authors
whose works are profiled are W. Somerset Maugham, A. A. Milne, Bertolt Brecht, Agatha Christie, Eugene O'Neill, Robert E. Sherwood, Ayn Rand, Daymon Runyon, Lillian Hellman, Ernest Hemingway,
Daphne du Maurier, Jean Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, Jean Genet, Herman Wouk, and Aldous Huxley. Six appendixes present short essays on deadly poison on the stage, 20th century courtroom dramas,
jury-room plays, 20th century death-row plays, children in peril, and Lizzie Borden on the stage. Annotation 穢2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
