Ancestral Voices

In Ancestral Voices, the scholar and poet Barton R. Friedman (1935–2009) draws upon a lifetime of deeply felt experience to create this collection. Composed at various points throughout his seventy-four years, the poems animate chronic issues in American society—race, class, war—and also give voice to personal moments of triumph, tragedy, love, and loss. Published now by his wife Sheila, and including remembrances by his family, here is the fruit of a rich and original spirit.