cover image Poems for America: 125 Poems That Celebrate the American Experience

Poems for America: 125 Poems That Celebrate the American Experience

. Scribner Book Company, $25 (256pp) ISBN 978-0-7432-4486-2

A chronological tour from Bradstreet, Freneau and Wheatley to Sherman Alexie, Barbara Kingsolver and Elizabeth Alexander, Poems for America: 125 Poems That Celebrate the American Experience hits many of the highs and lows of American life, from the expected (""The Battle Hymn of the Republic"" to the happily surprising (Ishmael Reed's ""black power poem""). Editor Carmela Ciuraru invokes her first-generation heritage in the preface, noting that ""For me, patriotism resonates most deeply when I consider the American art and music and literature so essential to my enjoyment of life.""