This in-depth guide to Toni Morrison's life and works provides insight into Morrison's vivid, moving, and often disturbing fiction. It puts Morrison in context, describing her storytelling family, her experiences on the stage, and her brilliant stint as an editor. Delving into her most important novels, it presents comprehensive analysis of her writings on slavery, beauty, murder, jealousy, marriage, and the danger of living in the past. This guide shows why the Nobel Committee, when awarding Morrison the Nobel Prize in Literature, called her "a literary artist of the first rank." -- From publisher's description.