Collection of 106 essays on playwrights ranging from ancient Greeks and Romans to contemporary dramatists taken from the recently published Critical Survey of Drama, Second Revised Edition. Each essay lists the playwright's principal dramatic works and other writings and has sections on the playwright's writings in other forms, and life. The major part of each essay is the Analysis, which discusses selected dramatic works in detail, tracing the evolution of the playwright's work. Notable Playwrights is similar in form to Salem's other Magill's Choice sets on notable writers.