On Democracy

by Walt Whitman, David Bromwich (Introduction)

Gathered together for the first time, Walt Whitman's urgently needed prose writings on the democratic spirit and the soul of the nation.

12 short works encapsulate the American Bard's fiery passions and timeless wisdom for today.

Here for the first time in a convenient pocket edition are all of Walt Whitman’s essential prose writings on democracy, including his unforgrettable reflections on the roots on American division, the fearful legacy of the Civil War, and shining example of Abraham Lincoln. Few writers have been as harsh in their condemnation of America’s sins and spiritual shortcomings or as abiding in his faith in democratic ideals as Whitman. His clarion voice speaks to us with renewed urgency today.

Gathered here
“The Eighteenth Presidency!,” written during the 1856 presidential campaign, in which Whitman expresses his rage over the immediate prospects for American democracyDemocratic Vistas (1871), in which he dramatizes his role as poet-prophet of a better Americathe searing essay “Origins of Attempted Secession” and shorter extracts on democracy from the classic book Specimen Days (1882).
In his introduction, acclaimed political observer David Bromwich examines Whitman’s political prose writings and highlights why they matter today.

Kindle Edition

Expected publication February 17, 2026

About the author

Walter Whitman Jr. was an American poet, essayist, and journalist. He is considered one of the most influential poets in American literature. Whitman incorporated both transcendentalism and realism in his writings and is often called the father of free verse. His work was controversial in his time, particularly his 1855 poetry collection Leaves of Grass, which was described by some as obscene for its overt sensuality.
Whitman was born in Huntington on Long Island, and lived in Brooklyn as a child and through much of his career. At the age of 11, he left formal schooling to go to work. He worked as a journalist, a teacher, and a government clerk. Whitman's major poetry collection, Leaves of Grass, first published in 1855, was financed with his own money and became well known. The work was an attempt to reach out to the common person with an American epic. Whitman continued expanding and revising Leaves of Grass until his death in 1892.
During the American Civil War, he went to Washington, D.C., and worked in hospitals caring for the wounded. His poetry often focused on both loss and healing. On the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, whom Whitman greatly admired, he authored two poems, "O Captain! My Captain!" and "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd", and gave a series of lectures on Lincoln. After suffering a stroke towards the end of his life, Whitman moved to Camden, New Jersey, where his health further declined. When he died at the age of 72, his funeral was a public event.
Whitman's influence on poetry remains strong. Art historian Mary Berenson wrote, "You cannot really understand America without Walt Whitman, without Leaves of Grass... He has expressed that civilization, 'up to date,' as he would say, and no student of the philosophy of history can do without him." Modernist poet Ezra Pound called Whitman "America's poet... He is America."