This study is the first comprehensive, full-length account of the works of the Anglo-Jewish author Leonard William Merrick [formerly Miller], (1864-1939). Drawing on unpublished materials, it covers Merrick's twelve novels, his several volumes of short stories, eight plays, and contributions to motion pictures. A former actor, Merrick often wrote about actors; George Orwell regards Merrick's fiction about the theater as the best of its time, especially ""The Passion of Peggy Harper"" (1911). H. G. Wells applauded Merrick's depiction of racism in ""The Quaint Companions"" (1903). Anti-Semitism is shown in ""Violet Moses"" (1891). ""Mr. Bazalgette's Agent"" (1888) is the first novel in English to star a lady detective whose story is told through her diary. Many of Merrick's works also focus upon a 'New Woman' The pioneering meta-fictional aspects of Merrick's works deserve attention. William Baker is Distinguished Research Professor, Professor of English and Professor, University Libraries at Northern Illinois University. Jeanette Roberts Shumaker is a professor of English at San Diego State University.

This is the first book-length study of the work of contemporary writer Bernard Kops. Born on November 28, 1926 to Dutch-Jewish immigrants, Bernard Kops became famous after the production of his play The Hamlet of Stepney Green: A Sad Comedy with Some Songs in 1958. This play, like much of his work, focuses on the conflicts between young and old. Identified as an "angry young man," Kops, like his contemporaries John Osborne, Shelagh Delaney, and Harold Pinter, belonged to the so-called new wave of British drama that emerged in the mid-1950s. Kops went on to create important documentaries about the Blitz and living in London during the early 1940s. He has written two autobiographies, over ten novels, many journalistic pieces, and more than forty plays for TV, stage, and radio. A prolific poet, Kops has authored a long pamphlet poem and eight poetry collections. Now in his mid-80s, the prolific and versatile Kops still produces, his creativity undimmed by age.