War Poet: The Life of Alan Seeger and His Rendezvous With Death - Paperback

by Michael Hill (Author)

WAR POET is a biography of American poet, Alan Seeger, killed at the battle of the Somme in July 1916 and author of "I Have a Rendezvous with Death," the favorite poem of President John F. Kennedy and one of the most powerful and memorable war poems of all time. When first published in the fall of 1916, Seeger became an instant hero in America and, in Europe, many compared him to the martyred British poet Rupert Brooke. His death was seen by many as "one of the most romantic incidents of the war" and declared his poetry "the authentic voice of ... war's ennobling glory." Theodore Roosevelt called Seeger a "gallant, gifted young man ... A dreamer of dreams, whose deeds made his death nobly good." Even after the Great War ended the memory of Seeger and his poem did not die, with literary allusions to his work and his "rendezvous with death" making their way into the works of such writers as F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway. With a single poem, Alan Seeger entered the pantheon of history's greatest war poets. Even now, over one hundred years later, it is a work of power and magic which still resonates through generation after generation of Americans. Drawing on new and important archival material, Michael Hill, author of "Elihu Washburne: Diary and Letters of America's Minister to France During the Siege and Commune of Paris", paints a noble and poignant portrait of this little known but fascinating American poet.

Author Biography

Michael Hill is the author of "Elihu Washburne: The Diary and Letters of America's Minister to France During the Siege and Commune of Paris" published in 2013 by Simon and Schuster. He is a long-time historical researcher for such authors as David McCullough, Jon Meacham, Nathaniel Philbrick, Evan Thomas, Michael Korda, Senator John McCain, James Bradley and Michael Beschloss. He won an Emmy for his work as a co-producer on the Ken Burns, "Civil War" series on PBS. He also served as a historical consultant on both the HBO mini-series, "John Adams" produced by Tom Hanks and the ABC-TV mini-series, "Challenger" about the space shuttle disaster. He is a graduate of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, the University of Akron School of Law, and Kent State University. Before turning to historical research Hill served as a press assistant to Vice President Walter F. Mondale. He lives in Virginia and is currently at work on two books. The first is a book about the intersecting lives of six college classmates and friends from the Harvard Class of 1910 including: John Reed, Walter Lippmann, Waldo Peirce, Ernst "Putzi" Hanfstaengl, Hamilton Fish and, WAR POET, Alan Seeger. The story will trace their fascinating life journeys through the 20th century. The second will be a book about the brief but special friendship between aviator Charles Lindbergh and U.S. Ambassador Myron Herrick.