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1929. From the dust jacket: As a second title to this poem, Edgar Lee Masters has chosen An Epilogue to Domesday Book, for here he has reconnected in a separate and complete narrative, the lives of the jurymen that figured in that earlier poem. The central portrait is of the coroner, Merivale, and his love for the mysteriously beautiful Arielle; against this are told the stories of the other men. Each is a testimony to the inner meaning of live, the confusion, frustration and joys that are the share of small men. The deep irony and intolerance of hypocrisy that have marked Mr. Masters' other works are present in this poem. The power, the vivid insight that characterized Spoon River Anthology are also here, while the unfolding narrative gives a dramatic interest to the poem as a whole. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing. ... Read more

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Now in paperback, this is the first book-length biography of Edgar Lee Masters, author of the celebrated "Spoon River Anthology", one of the most widely read and discussed works of poetry ever written in America. Herbert K. Russell, acknowledged as the foremost authority on Masters, brilliantly conveys the internal contradictions that drove Masters throughout his life. Masters was one of America's most prolific authors yet only one of his works afforded him lasting recognition. He was a successful Chicago lawyer yet he detested the practice of law, and he married twice but was constantly in pursuit of other women.Russell is the first scholar to be allowed to read and quote from all of Masters' diaries, his correspondence, and the unpublished chapters of his 1936 autobiography "Across Spoon River". Russell skillfully tempers Masters' own version of events to craft a nuanced account of the poet's tempestuous relationships, impetuous business decisions, and artistic struggles. Herbert K. Russell, retired director for college relations at John A.Logan College, Carterville, Illinois, is the editor of "The Enduring River: Edgar Lee Masters' Uncollected Spoon River Poems" and other books. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A superbly researched and written biographical portrait
Edgar Lee Masters is the author of "Spoon River Anthology", one of the most widely read and discussed volumes of American poetry ever written. Biographer Herbert Russell reveals that Masters was also a successful Chicago lawyer who detested the practice of law, married twice and constantly pursuing other women, and at the same time, one of America's most prolific authors, publishing 53 books during his lifetime. Yet only one of works afforded him lasting recognition. Russell draws from Master's diaries, correspondences, unpublished chapters of a 1936 autobiography, and information from his two wives, children, lovers, and contemporaries (including Theodore Dreiser, Carl Sandburg, Harriet Monroe, William Jennings Bryan, and Clarence Darrow) to reveal the poet's many relationships, impulsive business decisions, and artistic struggles. Edgar Lee Masters is a superbly researched and written biographical portrait of a man who changed the course of American poetry, yet was unable to achieve personal fulfillment and artistic success within his own life.

Edgar Lee Masters - a biography by Herbert Russell
This is the best and most complete biography of one of America's great poets. Not only has Russell delivered a meticulously researched story in full, he writes in a very forthright and engaging style.This is the ESSENTIAL Edgar Lee Masters source.For those not familiar with Masters there can be no better introduction.Once I started reading it, I found the book hard to put down. ... Read more

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Originally published in 1915.This volume from the Cornell University Library's print collections was scanned on an APT BookScan and converted to JPG 2000 format by Kirtas Technologies.All titles scanned cover to cover and pages may include marks notations and other marginalia present in the original volume. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

A Contrarian Perspective
I read an older edition of this book, perhaps the first edition if the blurb on this site is correct.I agree with one reviewer who found the incessant and overdetermined animus of Masters a little much to take.However, this book is best read, not as simply objective history, but as a legal brief for the prosecution of Lincoln for crimes of war and, to a lesser extent, of peace.It is not history, but counter-history, and as such it is valuable precisely because so many of us are inclined to dismiss his criticisms out of hand.

One note.Masters is not an ideologist of the "Lost Cause" persuasion, and he certainly was not a romantic of any variety.Although known primarily as a poet (and, indeed, one of America's greatest), his training was in law.This training taught him to see with a cynic's eyes the sophistry and rhetorical obfuscation that often passes for politics; he judged Lincoln as he would have judged any lawyer on the make who argues death and injustice with demagogic piety and sophistic intent. However, I think he falls prey to the tendency to view the assassinated president as a less ambiguous man than he truly was, which is not to say that Lincoln was innocent of the crimes Masters charges him with. And to charge Lincoln with defending oligarchic interests in the North (such as the railroads and the tariff system), while not necessarily inappropriate or even inaccurate, ignores evidence that his counterpart in the Confederacy acted on behalf of similar interests in the South (see, for instance, "Bitterly Divided" by David Williams).War always has a tendency to create tyrants out of any but the best statesmen, which is why the argument over which side actually started the conflict is (still) so contested--because after hostilities were initiated it was of military necessity that great powers would be assumed or asserted by the executives of both federations. Thus it is the scope of Lincoln's ambition which would really convict him--to know whether he had, all along, sought to provoke a smoldering conflict into war in order to fulfill a quest for power unmitigated by higher purpose.This is rather more difficult to determine, but Masters goes further than most in making the case that yes, he did.

Not history
This will be short.If you are an historian, both Masters' savage and Carl Sandburg's fawning accounts are a must, but only because you are an historian.For truth, avoid both these extremes and read David Herbert Donald.If you believe that Masters' view of Lincoln is valid, then you have read nothing else substantive on Lincoln, or you are a neo-Confederate for whom truth means. "The South shall rise again."

After Finally reading......
After finally reading Masters account, there is little doubt that the attempts to banish this book were premised upon the usual cynical dishonesty of polticians who pander to religion, myth, power and money. Having studied Lincoln, he was only a man conflicted by his upbringing, profession and ultimately a quest for power. Masters was a rational man who understood that inciting a war in which more than 600,000 human beings perished with the justification that those in the South who had voluntarily seceded from a voluntary union could be compelled to remain subjects of a government which was founded as a servant of the people was nothing less than capital crime. Lincoln was, like George W Bush, a sociopathic criminal. It has long been conceded that the war was not fought over slavery; yet, schoolchildren are routinely propagandized by the nonsensical claims about Lincoln which have placed his likeness on pedestals. Our children and citizens need to read such critical analyses, INCLUDING Masters rational critique of the involvement of religion, to understand that we, as the people, were intended to have sovereignty over our own lives, surrendering only such freedom as the Constitution expressly authorizes, and retaining democratic license restrained by the Bill of Rights to avoid majority tyranny. The Civil War was entirely unnecessary and counter productive. For more than a Century after it ended, the hatred it engendered resulted in the denial of real civil rights and freedom to the black minorities. It most certainly would have been more practical and consistent with the prevailing law (at the time) and Constitution for the abolitionists, many of whom were extremely wealthy, to convince the government (with their assistance) to purchase the slaves who were lawfully owned by a Constitutional "taking" with just compensation while simultaneously outlawing any additional slaves. Instead, as we know, the Civil War only enriched the Northern industrialists, impoverished the South and left death, destruction and chaos in its wake. Masters and those who have rationally critiqued the Presidency of Abraham Lincoln were and are right. The majority of Americans are simply ignorant fools who readily accept myths, historical and religious, in making decisions. As proof, there still remain millions of people in this country who believe that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction when we attacked despite the lack of any evidence. Just believe. No, THINK. For those who continue to BELIEVE Lincoln was a great man, look at the facts, examine his statements, speeches and conduct, and I am confident that at a minimum you will conclude that Lincoln was, as Masters states, nothing more nor less than a man but certainly not entitled to any consideration of greatness. What if a President would have been successful without the carnage, destruction and hatred in abolishing slavery? Now that would truly have been a man whose image could justifiably been placed on a pedestal.

Debunking the Lincoln myth!
Masters hit the nail on the head! Lincoln was a commie who setup corporate welfare, high taxes, and a never-ending quest for power. It is thanks to Lincoln, and the Republican Party that we have big government to this very day. This book along with Thomas Dilorenzo's book the Real Lincoln should be on the desk of every student in America. If only to show that Lincoln was nothing but a consummate politician! Far from being the "great humanitarian" Lincoln was a racist who once stated that Jesus Christ was an illegitimate child, and never proclaimed Christ as his savior, nor was he ever baptized. Mr. Masters did a very good job of helping debunk the Lincoln myth!

Think Clinton is the scummiest Pres.?Well think again!!!
Scully and Moulder rejoice, because this book proves "The Truth is Out There".I strongly recommend this book to anyone who yearns to understand why our country is currently in such terrible shape.You willnever refer to Lincoln as "Honest Abe" or "The GreatEmancipator" ever again after reading this work.I pray that thehistory books do not lie to our children and revere Clinton the way they doLincoln.Hopefully, historians will have the same guts that Masters had in1931 and tell the real story about Clinton. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document, covering the life and work of Edgar Lee Masters, is an entry from Contemporary Authors, a reference volume published by Thompson Gale. The length of the entry is 2798 words. The page length listed above is based on a typical 300-word page. Although the exact content of each entry from this volume can vary, typical entries include the following information:

• Place and date of birth and death (if deceased)
• Family members
• Education
• Professional associations and honors
• Employment
• Writings, including books and periodicals
• A description of the author's work
• References to further readings about the author