William David Logan

"I have heard writers refer to [William Logan] as ‘the most hated man in American poetry,’ a title one could be proud of in this time of fawning and favor-trading."--Robert McDowell, Hudson Review "Is there today a more stringent, caring reader of American poetry than William Logan? Reputations of t...

The preeminent poet-critic of his generation.--Kirkus ReviewsWilliam Logan is the best practical critic around.--Christian Wiman, PoetryWilliam Logan has been called "the most hated man in American poetry" and the most dangerous poetry critic since Randall Jarrell. Desperate Measurescontinues the cr...

The Garden Writers Association of America declared it best book of the year for 1998. And The New York Times wrote: "Logan, who is one of our best garden writers, has produced not only a real book but a scrupulously researched, handsomely designed, and highly enjoyable one to book."The Took Book ce...

William Logan has been called both the "preeminent poet-critic of his generation" and the "most hated man in American poetry." For more than a quarter century, in the keen-witted and bare-knuckled reviews that have graced the New York Times Book Review, the Times Literary Supplement (London), and ot...

The author of Dirt and Oak brings to life this quickest, most sustaining, most communicative element of the earth. Air sustains the living. Every creature breathes to live, exchanging and changing the atmosphere. Water and dust spin and rise, make clouds and fall again, fertilizing the dirt. Twenty ...

“A gleeful, poetic book. . . . Like the best natural histories, Dirt is a kind of prayer.” ―Los Angeles Times Book Review “You are about to read a lot about dirt, which no one knows very much about.” So begins the cult classic that brings mystery and magic to “that stuff that won’t come off your col...

The most notorious poet-critic of his generation, William Logan has defined our view of poets good and bad, interesting and banal, for more than three decades. Featured in the New York Times Book Review, the Times Literary Supplement, and the New Criterion, among other journals, Logan's eloquent, pa...

William Logan has been a thorn in the side of American poetry for more than three decades. Though he has been called the "most hated man in American poetry," his witty and articulate reviews have reminded us how muscular good reviewing can be. These new essays and reviews take poetry at its word, of...