Cry of the Tinamou: Stories

Born in Oklahoma in 1907, Babb (An Owl on Every Post) has published these evocative 14 stories in magazines as various as the Communist New Masses, the Saturday Evening Post and Seventeen; the earliest story came out in 1947, the newest has never been printed before. They are set all over the West among characters as different as dustbowl farmers, Central American Indians and Californian Chinese-Americans. Most of the tales feature strong female protagonists and, despite Babb's occasional preciousness and her reliance on melodrama, these pieces surprise a reader with their poignancy and sensitivity to character. Alan Wald (New York Intellectuals: The Rise and Decline of the Anti-Stalinist Left) provides an informative, sympathetic introduction to this little-known contemporary of John Steinbeck and Lillian Hellman. (Oct.)