Poet, social scientist, and literary essayist, Reuel Denney is best known perhaps as co-author of The Lonely Crowd with David Riesman and Nathan Glaser. These selected essays and poems, edited by Tony Quagliano, span a wide range of topics and more than a half century of American cultural history.The topics range from international finance to leisure, from Greek mythology to Disney, from American poetry to the great oral tradition of Polynesian poetry. Woven throughout is Denney's fascinating memoir Experience in the World, an autobiographical meditation on America in the twentieth century. This unique collection presents one poet and scholar's encounter with the complexities of American life. American culture, Denney shows us, is the product of the many cultures of the world; it is indeed a Feast of Strangers. This is a work for scholars, students, and other researchers of American literature and culture studies.

Presents a wide-ranging collection of major essays and poems by American writer Reuel Denney, including an autobiographical reflection on life in America in the twentieth century.

Foreword by David RiesmanEditor's Introduction by Tony QuaglianoExperience in the World 1913-1947Household WordsA Little LearningFor My Girl's BirthdayShuttle Island--LargoMcSorley's BarExcerpt from The Portfolio of Benjamin Latrobe--"When Spelling Bees"The Invisible HandThe Battle of Bretton WoodsThe Leisure SocietyExcerpt from The Portfolio of Benjamin Latrobe--"My Grandfather"Experience in the World 1947-1961It's a Wonderful Town"Wind in the Sycamore""A Requiem""To an Old Friend"Feast of StrangersFeast of Strangers: Varieties of Sociable Experience in AmericaWhat the Animals Are Saying about UsA Tale of Two Studios: Artist Jean Charlot in Walt Disney's Atelier"Ravenna""A Wine For Li Po's Picture"Excerpt from The Portfolio of Benjamin Latrobe--"Here at StairwaysExperience in the World 1961-1995Excerpt From "The Animal Cartel"WestModernity and MythWilliam Carlos WilliamsA Portable Pagoda: Asia and America in the Work of Gary SnyderMerwin and MythHawaiian HeritageBirdman, Myth, and Technology"The Laboratory Midnight""Portrait of the Old Poet as a Used Car""Pele Poem"Excerpt from The Portfolio of Benjamin Latrobe--"I Dedicate to Benjamin Henry Latrobe"Works by Reuel DenneyIndex