Walt Whitman: A Literary Life highlights two major influences on Whitman's poetry and life: the
American Civil War and his economic condition. Linda Wagner-Martin performs a close reading of
many of Whitman's poems particularly his Civil War work (in Drum-Taps) and those poems written
during the last twenty years of his life. Wagner-Martin's study also emphasizes the
near-poverty that Whitman experienced. Starting with his early career as a printer and
journalist the book moves to the publication of Leaves of Grass and his cultivation of the
persona of the working-class writer. In addition to establishing Whitman's attention to the
Civil War through journalism and memoirs the book takes the approach of following Whitman's
life through his poems. Utilizing contemporary perspectives on class Wagner-Martin provides a
new reading of Whitman's economic situation. This is an accessibly written synthesis of
Whitman's publication history bringing attention to under-studied aspects of his writing.
