The previous edition (fourth, 2002) is cited in Resources for College Libraries. For almost twenty years the starting place for literary research has been the Literary Research Guide--the place to look, for example, if someone were working on a paper on the influence of the 19th century drug culture on Edgar Allan Poe and wanted to know whether someone else had already done this. In the fifth edition, Harner (liberal arts, Texas A&M) has updated his bibliography of bibliographies. For anyone doing literary research, he provides a list of reference sources accompanied by a critical annotation, that give the value of the source, how it complements or supersedes other work and how best to use it. Since bibliography is rarely taught today, even in graduate school, this book takes the place of a semester's work and saves thesis writers from discovering a key article too late. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)