I'm currently sunk deep into A New Literary History of America, edited by Greil Marcus and Werner Sollors, a massive, fabulous collection of critical and historical essays keyed to important events in American culture. (I'll be reviewing it soon in Salon.) As is often the case with this sort of book (I edited one myself), sometimes the most rewarding entries are the ones that at first look unpromising. Who today cares about Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, a poet who was hugely popular in the...