"Donna Hollenberg's long-awaited biography of Denise Levertov illuminates for us the mind and career of a poet who embodied the passionate idealism and the ideological tensions of America's last half-century. Hollenberg's work chronicles the poet's struggles with family, with other poets and with herself--with scrupulous and sometimes heartbreaking intimacy, revealing but never over-explaining the connections between Levertov's life and the beauty and subtlety of her writing."--Alicia Ostriker, author of The Crack in Everything "[Hollenberg's] account of the evolution of Levertov's 'revolution, ' the path of her poetic and political 'pilgrimage, ' is informed and thorough, sympathetic but balanced. This is a book that fills a real need and will be a benchmark in our understanding of this poet and her place in American letters."--Albert Gelpi, Coe Professor of American Literature, emeritus, Stanford University "This deeply researched and beautifully written biography provides a fascinating portrait of a major poet and her worlds. The book is indispensable for anyone interested in postwar American poetry in the Pound-Williams line. But Levertov's story is not only about the growth of a poet's mind. We follow her through the drama of twentieth century history and cultural change as she calls us not only to 'taste and see' but to protest and revolt."--Bonnie Costello, author of Planets on Tables: Poetry, Still Life and the Turning World