Cover -- UNDERSTANDING SAM SHEPARD -- UNDERSTANDING CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN LITERATURE -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- CONTENTS -- Series Editor's Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Chapter 1: Understanding Sam Shepard -- Chapter 2: Experimentations with Sound, Language, and Myth: The Early Plays, 1964-1976 -- Chapter 3: Divining the Cure: Curse of the Starving Class -- Chapter 4: Hidden Trespasses: Buried Child -- Chapter 5: The Authentic Family: True West -- Chapter 6: Chaos and Connection: The Later Works, 1983-2009 -- Notes -- Select Bibliography -- Index.