"In this revised edition, Gloria Wade-Gayles analyzes selected novels by such writers as Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, Ann Petry, Gwendolyn Brooks, Dorothy West, and Gayl Jones to offer a fresh vision of the roles - and burdens - of black women in contemporary culture." "Contending that black women are "twice burdened" and "doubly invisible" because of their race and gender. Wade-Gayles pulls us into the lives of these fascinating characters to reveal black women as they really are - struggling against isolation, alienation, loneliness, and victimization, all the while seeking wider horizons for their people and space for themselves as persons with aspirations and dreams." "No Crystal Stair is a celebration of black women writers and their collective vision of the human condition."--Jacket.