Mae West: A Bio-Bibliography (Popular Culture Bio-Bibliographies)

The section on INTERVIEWS given by Mae West is useful. However, the lack of quotation marks makes it diffcult to know which comments were para-phrased and which are Mae West's direct statements. Also, the very startling interviews done by John C. Moffitt in the 1930s are MISSING. Why???? Despite these quibbles, this volume is a must-have for the Mae West fan.I was lucky to find an unread copy at an attractive price.

Carol M. Ward's "Mae West A Bio-Bibliography" published in 1989 offers an excellent starting point for the Mae West Scholar. Ward provides a wide range of sources to delve into how the popular press perceived Mae West, however, the list is far from exhaustive and now somewhat dated.Ward's text is invaluable in this age of "cyber research." Nothing beats the old fashioned method of researching - pouring over microfilm and old magazine clippings, and Ward's meticulous citations point the way for serious West buffs to find out more about her.

This book is quite expensive but after all it was written mainly for academic libraries, not really for purchases by the general public. If you want a standard "biography" with a ton of photos and a dust jacket, this is not for you. If you are interested in a serious examination of this one-of-a-kind star, you could not do better. Several other authors have tried to do this with more mainstream books on West, but Ward is unmatched in looking at West from the eyes of a historian and a critic. She is also clearly admires West's accomplishments but is never fawning. An outstanding work.

This is a bio-bibliography. So everything you read, you can verify by finding the original somewhere. Wonderfully researched, and of course perfectly accurate (how could it NOT be?). You are paying for all of the great research, and it is worth every penny. It is invaluable to anyone who is writing a book on Mae West, or researching her career.