Poet, social scientist, and literary essayist, Reuel Denney is best known perhaps as co-author of "The Lonely Crowd" with David Riesman and Nathan Glaser. These selected essays and poems, edited by Tony Quagliano, span a wide range of topics and more than a half century of American cultural history.

The topics range from international finance to leisure, from Greek mythology to Disney, from American poetry to the great oral tradition of Polynesian poetry. Woven throughout is Denney's fascinating memoir Experience in the World, an autobiographical meditation on America in the twentieth century. This unique collection presents one poet and scholar's encounter with the complexities of American life. American culture, Denney shows us, is the product of the many cultures of the world; it is indeed a Feast of Strangers. This is a work for scholars, students, and other researchers of American literature and culture studies.

Poetry. Tony Quagliano's contributions to Hawai'i and to the world of poetry were many and wide-ranging. His was a singular voice in poetry. He reveled in the possibilities of language, the sounds of words, and the potential for philosophical complexities. He was feisty, humorous, joyfully exuberant and had an inviolable sense of justice. This collection of his work exemplifies that existence and shows us all that LANGUAGE MATTERS."In this collection of treasures, Tony Quagliano continues to live, and to show us that poetry matters--and life and laughter and places, and ideals, and doubts all matter. His politics and science are timeless. How wonderful to hear his music again."--Maxine Hong Kingston"Do they scream inside Paradise? They certainly do, and Tony Quagliano makes you hear it. Does Paradise also persist despite the screaming? It certainly does, and Tony lets it roll out in splendor. In his cool voice and lean lines you hear also the roar of our age with its mysteries and sorrows in plain sight. These are works of wisdom, instruction, and beauty."--Andrei Codrescu