In these days of access to Wikipedia, one might think there is no longer a need for books such as this. But this compendium of “world literature masterpieces” offers not only plot summaries and descriptions of principal characters, but critical evaluations of works one might not find as readily via the internet. One might, however, take issue with the title, as “Western Literature” would be much more accurate than “World Literature.”

I do appreciate that many of Shakepeare’s works have separate entries, and that there is some non-fiction included, such as “Das Kapital” by Karl Marx.

In general, while the selection is quite limited, it is still a good reference to have on hand. A more thorough index, including character names, would have made it more useful still. ( )