Series books do not always make for the most scintillating study of a given topic; but Philip C. Kolin's Understanding Adrienne Kennedy enlivens the format of the University of South Carolina Press's series with an elegantly written study on the interrelationships of life, work, and performance in the dramatic accomplishment of a unique African-American woman playwright. Kennedy's dark, evocative dramas emphasize the search for identity in a culture that is at once familiar and alien, real and imagined. The books in this worthy series are geared toward students and nonacademic readers, and Kolin has skillfully managed to offer a deep reading and, at the same time, an accessible survey of Kennedy's diverse plays that, under any circumstances, would provide a heady challenge to any reader or viewer.