A Very Serious thing will have wide readership: women writers of humor; sociologists whose interest is in the behavior of women; males, whether writers or not, who have become sensitive to the injustices visited upon women in our culture; and literary historians. It is thorough, yet concisely written; further, Walker has provided prolific notes and a selected bibliography for those who heretofore have been unaware of the wealth of women's humor in the American literary canon.