Democratic Vistas

"Written in the aftermath of the American Civil War during the ferment of national Reconstruction, Walt Whitman's Democratic Vistas remains one of the most penetrating analyses of democracy ever written. Now available for the first time in a facsimile of the original 1870-1871 edition, with an introduction and annotations by noted Whitman scholar Ed Folsom that illuminate the essay's historical and cultural contexts, this searing analysis of American culture offers readers today the opportunity to argue with Whitman over the nature of democracy and the future of the nation." --Book Jacket.