A tip of the hat to Octavio Roca for calling my attention to this Jesse Green essay in the Sept. 14 issue of T Magazine (published by the New York Times): "Walt Whitman, Poet of a Contradictory America."
Green's thesis will not come as a surprise to most Bookmen, I imagine: "During the Civil War era, the writer emerged as an emblem of the country's dissonance. Now, in the midst of another all-consuming national crisis, his work feels uncannily relevant." But the way he harkens back to Whitman's life and work to make that point is highly effective. And as a bonus, the photo illustrations (mostly featuring young black men) were inspired by passages from the 1891-1892 edition of Leaves of Grass, chosen by the author and the magazine's editors.
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