This excellent analysis of the important stories of Shirley Jackson (1916-65) sees a pattern of various protagonists: the unmarried urban woman and the country housewife, "both subject to anxiety and crises"; the malicious older woman; and women under stress in various situations. Hall also analyzes the recurring motif of James Harris, the "daemon lover" of Child Ballad No. 243, as he appears notably in the 25 stories collected in The Lottery; or, The Adventures of James Harris (1950) and who is recognizable in various incarnations. Hall discusses Jackson's revisions to "The Lottery," her most famous work, and reprints six articles (or parts of articles) by Jackson, one interview and one article by Stanley Edgar Hyman, along with four of her letters to her parents about her writing, two outlines for uncompleted stories, and six articles by critics, some sensible and others strained. This lucid, intelligent analysis should go far to rescue Jackson's reputation from the abyss into which it has inexplicably fallen. Hall observes that of the two book-length studies available, Lenemaja Friedman's Shirley Jackson (CH, Jan'76) discounts the magic and witchcraft motifs to focus on the entertainment, while Judy Oppenheimer's Private Demons (1988) sees Jackson's dark side as an important part of her life. Recommended for fiction and women's studies collections in academic and public libraries. J. Overmyer; Ohio State University