Includes bibliographical references (pages 143-154) and index.

"In this brief but bountiful volume, David S. Reynolds offers a wealth of insight into the life and work of Walt Whitman, examining the author through the lens of nineteenth-century America." "Reynolds shows how Whitman responded to contemporary theater, music, painting, photography, science, religion, and sex. But perhaps nothing influenced Whitman more than the political events of his lifetime, as the struggle over slavery threatened to rip apart the national fabric." "Readers will also discover how from the new medium of photography Whitman learned democratic realism and offered in his poetry "photographs" of common people engaged in everyday activities. Reynolds concludes with an appraisal of Whitman's impact on American letters, an influence that remains strong today."--Jacket.

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