This welcome study delivers a long-overdue analysis of the works of Ann Petry (1908-1997), a major mid-twentieth-century African American author. Primarily known as the sole female member of the Wright School of Social Protest, Petry has been most recognized for her 1946 novel The Street, about a woman's struggle to raise her son in a hardscrabble Harlem neighborhood. Keith Clark moves beyond assessments of Petry as a sort of literary descendent...