The twentieth century went by with little being written about one of America’s most important type designers. The information on Morris Fuller Benton remained scant, partially because his work stood outside of most historians’ field of view and also due to the reticence of the man himself. Research on Benton has increased in recent years and Juliet Shen’s valuable dissertation fills a substantial void. After making assessments of the technological and commercial circumstances in which Benton worked, and thorough evaluations of seven of his typeface designs, Ms. Shen arrives at informed conclusions about his motivations and design strategies.