I was curious to know why this book got such low reviews on this site. If other reviews are any indication, the problem may be that some people feel the book left out too many important poets, and was too narrow in scope. Imagine a book that would encapsulate the breadth of American contemporary life, social movements, etc. You'd need two people to lift it.

So, I don't think that's necessarily a flaw against the book. Even the critics online left important names out in their responses.

It's not a bad collection otherwise; a great place for beginners to start out, especially with the help of the commentary (not bad or great either.)

I liked it well enough, but I probably would've been better off borrowing the individual writers' works instead. ( )