Introduction

Abstract

When Brooks Atkinson left his position in 1960 after thirty-five years as drama critic for the New York Times, he left behind a legacy of outstanding journalism. He was called ‘the most respected, most influential and perhaps the most quoted drama critic in the United States’. His high standards of theatrical reporting influenced numerous writers, including many of his own colleagues on rival newspapers. Scholars and literary historians interested in modern drama have since discovered his past reviews to be an unlimited source of perceptive insights into the history and development of New York theatre and twentieth-century drama.