Charles Olson is often described as one of the most influential American poets of the last quarter century; some would rather describe him as a cult figure, prophet of the Black Mountain poets and their descendants. Both judgments refer to an influence exerted as much through theories as through poems. Here is an examination of Olson's understanding of poetry that is cogent and a pleasure to read. It provides the framework needed for understanding Olson's work.

Best known as author of The Oregon Trail, Francis Parkman is now increasingly recognized as one of the greatest nineteenth&ndashcentury American historians. Parkman, more than anyone else, first grasped the tragic element implicit in our pioneer heritage and placed the opening up of the great North American wilderness in broad historical perspective.

Hideyoshi—peasant turned general, military genius, and imperial regent of Japan—is the subject of an immense legendary literature. He is best known for the conquest of Japan's sixteenth–century warlords and the invasion of Korea. But his lasting contribution is as governor whose policies shaped the course of Japanese politics for almost three hundred years.