Introduction to Literary Context: Plays examines 31 plays from pivotal playwrights from the 17th to the 20th centuries by providing in-depth critical analysis of each work, including its historical context and meaning. Works from over 20 authors like Lorraine Hansberry, T.S. Eliot, Samuel Beckett, Anton Chekov, and more are critiqued. Each essay, written by a literary scholar, offers readers invaluable insight into the author's oeuvre.

Edition statement supplied by publisher.

Publisher's Note -- About This Volume -- American Buffalo by David Mamet -- Angels in America by Tony Kushner -- Arcadia by Tom Stoppard -- Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams -- The Cocktail Party by T.S. Eliot -- The Crucible by Arthur Miller -- Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand -- Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller -- An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen -- The Family Reunion by T.S. Eliot -- Faust, Part One by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe -- The Frozen Deep by Wilkie Collins -- The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams -- The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde -- Galileo by Bertolt Brecht -- Long Day's Journey into Night by Eugene O'Neill -- Mother Courage and Her Children by Bertolt Brecht -- Oleanna by David Mamet -- The Piano Lesson by August Wilson -- Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw -- A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry -- Saint Joan by George Bernard Shaw -- She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith -- Six Characters in Search of an Author by Luigi Pirandello -- Speed the Plow by David Mamet -- A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams -- Trifles by Susan Glaspell -- Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov -- Volpone by Ben Jonson -- Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett -- The Wild Duck by Henrik Ibsen -- Bibliography -- Index.