The American Poet Laureate

Since World War II, the United States has been the center of poetic production. In The American Poet Laureate (Columbia University Press) Paeth details the history of the U.S. poet laureate since it was established in 1985. Highlighting the careers of Elizabeth Bishop, Robert Frost, Gwendolyn Brooks, Robert Pinsky, Tracy K. Smith, Juan Felipe Herrera, and Joy Harjo and the role they each played while serving as poet laureate. Paeth ultimately explores the important role poetry has played in U.S. culture in the postwar era.