This unique work is the first book to bring systematically gathered and analyzed data to bear on the question of how contemporary poetry reaches the American public. It explores the publishing patterns, experiences, methods, motivations, and rewards of 203 living American poets from 1950 through 1980. Although all the poets have published quite widely, including at least one poetry book, they range from the little-known to the famous, from the well-established to the relatively young, from those who write in more or less traditional forms to the highly experimental. Among the many poets who cooperated in the study are Philip Levine, Gary Snyder, Allen Ginsberg, Theodore Enslin, Maxine Kumin, May Swenson, Donald Justice, William Stafford, Mona Van Duyn, Robert Hass, and Robert Pinsky. The book also explores the roles played by the major categories of periodicals that publish poetry-general interest magazines, academic literary journals, and independent little magazines. Commercial book presses, university presses, and small presses are also tracked and analyzed.

Information for this study was obtained from various sources, including the many hundreds of little magazines and academic literary journals published throughout the thirty years; published interviews, with articles and statements by the 203 poets; and an extensive questionnaire survey sent to the poets, as well as many expansive letters that accommodate their returned questionnaires. Two chapters frame the findings. Chapter 1 surveys the publishing of American poetry from approximately 1900 through the 1940s, highlighting important tendencies and trends that continued through 1980. Chapter 8 surveys American poetry publishing since 1980, paying special attention to the major change during this decade: the dramatic decline in public funding for nonprofit literary enterprises. This volume should appeal to those interested in the sociology of publishing, American literature, or creative writing.

Emphasizing the broad range of opinions on life beyond the stereotypical "women's" spheres of home and family, Mary Biggs has organized Women's Words by a diverse array of subjects you won't find in other volumes. You'll find quotations not only on education, but also on the education of children, the education of African Americans, and the education of women. Women's Words includes pronouncements not only on war, but also on the Bosnian War and on World War II. Locate the quotations you want quickly, or simply browse through the many thought-provoking entries you may not have considered before. Each quotation is accompanied by useful data on the author or speaker, her profession, the source and date, and often Biggs' informed commentary on context. Complemented by a full author index and comprehensive cross-referencing, this is the richest, most easy-to-use volume of its kind. Hundreds of well-known figures are represented here - bell hooks, Sojourner Truth, Martina Navratilova, Queen Elizabeth I, Flannery O'Connor, Golda Meir, and Mother Jones, to name just a few. Yet you'll also find equally strong voices that might otherwise have faded from memory, from a young girl's uproarious assessment of Dan Quayle's intellectual capacity to a Nepalese prostitute's moving reflection on hunger and survival. Women's Words encompasses the memorable statements of women young and old, from all corners of the globe.