This in-depth collection of essays offers a revealing look at Alden Nowlan, a poet, journalist, novelist, and playwright who overcame the disadvantages of both living in poverty and of having completed a mere four grades of education. Nowlan's work, which includes more than twenty books and three plays, is carefully examined in this volume, which focuses on the limitations of his class and his art as well as the myopia of the critical milieu by which his work was measured. Contributors include Geoffrey Cook, John Metcalfe, Paul Milton, Thomas R. Smith, and David Adams Richards.