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The following review appeared in the December 2011 issue of CHOICE

Wright Morris territory: a treasury of work, ed. by David Madden with Alicia Christensen. Nebraska, 2011. 306p bibl afp ISBN 9780803236585 pbk, $19.95
A prodigious and prolific writer (and exceptional photographer), Morris (1910-98) will likely remain one of the US’s most significant 20th-century literary voices. A considerable body of scholarship already exists on his work–fiction and nonfiction–but this is the first Morris reader. Although much of Morris’s work is grounded and steeped in region, specifically the Great Plains, Madden (emer., Louisiana State Univ.) states in his excellent introduction that Morris is not a “regionalist” as such (i.e., a “Nebraska writer” or “writer of the Great Plains”). Like other American writers devoted to place–Willa Cather and William Faulkner, for instance–Morris captures the ethos of the region but also transcends it; in both fiction and nonfiction, Morris’s subjects, style, range, and insights into human condition appeal to a wide audience. Prefaced with a fine biographical sketch by Joseph Wydeven as well as Madden’s introduction, and supplemented with Morris’s photographs, this reader will cultivate a much-deserved wider audience for Morris. Madden was wise in organizing the material not by chronology or by theme but rather by “juxtaposition,” offering readers–both those familiar with Morris and those new to him–a unique, refreshing approach to understanding and appreciating his considerable range and artistry. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates; general readers. — K. L. Cole, University of Sioux Falls