Walt Whitman

Abraham Lincoln’s faith in the Declaration of Independence ultimately influenced Walt Whitman’s harsh but optimistic appraisal of the American experiment.

Whitman curated his image through photography, blending truth and artifice, but like today’s selfies, found more confusion than clarity.

Walt Whitman was a champion self-advertiser, maven of the brag and the humblebrag.

Publishing needs his democratic spirit.

Mark Edmundson on the great American poet as a defender of democracy.

To appreciate who Whitman was, we have to reinterpret the poet in ways that have made generations of critical gatekeepers uncomfortable.

Black America talks back to "The Good Gray Poet" at 200.

A somewhat neglected vinyl-sided house is now at the center of a literary legacy battle.

As he told a friend years later, "the kiss of Walt Whitman is still on my lips."

"1861" is just so 1861.

How Walt Whitman became the quintessential poet of disability and death.

Americans tend to think of Walt Whitman as the embodiment of democracy and individualism, but have you ever considered Walt Whitman, the brand?

In the streets of New York, we try to imagine the city as Walt Whitman, and other artists of his time, experienced it.

The difference between the careers and reputations of the three famous authors is about gender as well as genius.

A Barthesian bristle and the curious power of Walt Whitman’s posthumous eyelids.

All good storytellers tell a big story within a little story, and so do all good historians.

The rousing urgency of the song seems to possess a power that, according to its own lyrics, “transfigures you and me.”

George Templeton Strong’s diaries provide the North’s best record of daily passions and woes during its struggle against the South.

This year marks the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding. The 200th wasn’t exactly smooth sailing.

Greg Grandin’s new book tells the story of US expansionism and its complex relationship with the rest of the New World.