The Gospel of Beauty in the Progressive Era

In the wings of histories about the Progressive Era and literary modernism stands a cohort of individuals who promoted reform by popularizing poetry, working behind the scenes to create an institutional infrastructure to support authors who addressed the problems of contemporary life. In this engagingly written and thoroughly researched book, Lisa Szefel brings to center stage the story of these editors, anthologists, critics, and writers who believed that poetry reading facilitated self-knowledge and social justice. Situated between the genteel tradition and the avant garde, they linked creativity to moral obligation and, in doing so, refashioned American values and verse.