This book seamlessly combines biography and criticism. [Lanigan] adeptly analyzes Austin’s life…and also offers insightful analyses of Austin’s writing. Like other females of her period, she received too little recognition for her original prose style and social critiques. Thanks to Song of a Maverick, we hear Mary Austin’s voice more clearly and appreciatively. Carol J. Singley in American Literature [Lanigan] provides illuminating sociological background and lucidly marshals the existing biolgraphical data. Choice Mary Hunter Austin was a well-known and respected author and activitst in her lifetime but is little known in ours. In this excellent biography…[Lanigan] chose to focus on a few central relationships in Austin’s life, to explore in some depth a few central texts, and to understand the interior life of her subject. She has done a splendid job. Ann J. Lane in the Journal of American History