Stephen Fredman

Each chapter here explores 20th Century American poetry in a different historical or cultural context, examining a range of poetry and poets across the full century. For readers working to contextualize either some aspect of culture or history in literature, or working to contextualize the work of a particular author, this is the ideal collection. A few of the chapters are heavy reads in the way of much literary criticism, but for the most par the inclusions here are readable and clear, even where readers may be less familiar with a particular poet. For interested readers, this collection succeeds wonderfully and is well worth exploring.… (mehr)