Like most of these Twayne commentaries, this volume offers a reasonable history of the critical reception of the novel, as well as offering a balanced reading of its own. There is rather more attempt to tie the book to a number of events in Mississippi history than in some of the other texts of this series. Sometimes these links feel a little forced, though the novel's subject matter at least gives ample warrant for attempting as broad a contextualization of Faulkner's views on race as possible.