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Rating: 
Summary: exhaustively researched , from an impartial biographer,
Review: I found this work extremely entertaining. It was like being back in mid-19th century America. It seemed to make the era come alive with real personalities and real historical character. To understand the complexities of this genious and his time, this book is a must. It seemed to be refreshingly candid and forth-right without the usual bias one expects on the subject. There was much more to the man and his times than his sexuality. This book reveals the other sides of Walt Whitman. You can feel his pain with him as you share in his America
Rating:
Summary: exhaustively researched , from an impartial biographer,
Review: I found this work extremely entertaining. It was like being back in mid-19th century America. It seemed to make the era come alive with real personalities and real historical character. To understand the complexities of this genious and his time, this book is a must. It seemed to be refreshingly candid and forth-right without the usual bias one expects on the subject. There was much more to the man and his times than his sexuality. This book reveals the other sides of Walt Whitman. You can feel his pain with him as you share in his America
Rating: 
Summary: Whitman Poetry Lovers only
Review: If you are a Whitman poetry lover (or aspire to be), this is an interesting book. The author explores the manifold influences on Whitman's writing, from Opera to Phrenology (and all the other letters of the alphabet), and uses snippets of poetry to prove his points.I had not explored Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" before reading this book, and was looking for a portrait of Whitman and his times, not a compilation of "influences," A to Z. In short, I found it dull. The author's writing style doesn't help either, which is straightforward at best, pedantic at worst ("No other biographer has noted..."). If you love Whitman's poetry, by all means buy and read this book. However, if you are looking for a more straightforward biography or a picture of America in the age of Whitman, you might look elswhere. Please, tell me what you find!
Rating:
Summary: Whitman Poetry Lovers only
Review: If you are a Whitman poetry lover (or aspire to be), this is an interesting book. The author explores the manifold influences on Whitman's writing, from Opera to Phrenology (and all the other letters of the alphabet), and uses snippets of poetry to prove his points. I had not explored Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" before reading this book, and was looking for a portrait of Whitman and his times, not a compilation of "influences," A to Z. In short, I found it dull. The author's writing style doesn't help either, which is straightforward at best, pedantic at worst ("No other biographer has noted..."). If you love Whitman's poetry, by all means buy and read this book. However, if you are looking for a more straightforward biography or a picture of America in the age of Whitman, you might look elswhere. Please, tell me what you find!
Rating:
Summary: Walt Whitman As If He Really Walked on this Planet
Review: Reynolds' Walt Whitman is a fellow who absorbed his culture, tried to save it, but finally sold himself to it. The other Whitman biographies I've read always had a scholarly ax to grind; this one seems, not to cut away Walt Whitman to a one dimensional person, but to find Walt Whitman living a multi-dimensional life in an urbanizing, industrializing, upwardly literate American society. I thorougly enjoyed the chapters on mid-century American Culture; but was looking for an itinerary of hospital visits that Whitman made. It appears that the author appropriately limited himself to what Whitman reported of his own activity as a hospital nurse and to what few recollections of patients.
Rating:
Summary: Walt Whitman As If He Really Walked on this Planet
Review: Reynolds' Walt Whitman is a fellow who absorbed his culture, tried to save it, but finally sold himself to it. The other Whitman biographies I've read always had a scholarly ax to grind; this one seems, not to cut away Walt Whitman to a one dimensional person, but to find Walt Whitman living a multi-dimensional life in an urbanizing, industrializing, upwardly literate American society. I thorougly enjoyed the chapters on mid-century American Culture; but was looking for an itinerary of hospital visits that Whitman made. It appears that the author appropriately limited himself to what Whitman reported of his own activity as a hospital nurse and to what few recollections of patients.
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