Synopsis
The inspiration for the title poem of Philip Levine’s A Walk with Tom Jefferson is not the founding father and third president of the United States that most readers would imagine upon hearing the name. Levine’s Tom Jefferson is quite different from his he is an African American living in a destitute area of industrial Detroit. But to Levine, he is “wise, compassionate, deliberate, honest…a great unknown American.” In A Walk with Tom Jefferson , Philip Levine reminds us why he is best known for his poems about working-class life in Detroit--and why so many people count a Levine poem among their favorites.
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Reviews
In his first volume since Sweet Will ( LJ 4/15/85), Levine explores his past (I looked down from great height/ at a burned world I believed/ I never had to enter."). But he did enter this burned world, a world of commerce, the daily "buying and selling" of souls. Levine's power derives from colloquial language fueled by anger. But in some of these 20 poems, anger dissipates to bitterness and his language goes flat. The long title poem, though, is its cornerstone: Levine's Tom Jefferson is a survivor of the consequences of commerceits wars, race riots, urban wastelands. Tom endures, like his winter garden, because he "believes/ the roots need cold,/ the earth needs to turn/ to ice and snow so a new fire/ can start up in the heart/ of all that grows."Robert Hudzik, P.L. of Cincinnati & Hamilton Cty.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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A Walk with Tom Jefferson
Published by
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 1988
ISBN 10: 0394570383
ISBN 13: 9780394570389
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Hardcover
Seller: Better World Books, Mishawaka, IN, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: Good. Used book that is in clean, average condition without any missing pages. Seller Inventory # 5066202-6
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A Walk with Tom Jefferson
Seller: True Oak Books, Highland, NY, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Good. 8vo 8" - 9" tall; Ex-Library copy in good condition.; - We offer free returns for any reason and respond promptly to all inquiries. Your order will be packaged with care and ship on the same or next business day. Buy with confidence. Seller Inventory # TOB57-8335-A-1
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A Walk with Tom Jefferson
Published by
Alfred A. Knopf, 1988
ISBN 10: 0394570383
ISBN 13: 9780394570389
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Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: Midtown Scholar Bookstore, Harrisburg, PA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Good. First Edition. Review Copy as noted by the publisher slip requesting a review. Torn/worn dj. Good hardcover with some shelfwear; may have previous owner's name inside. Standard-sized. Seller Inventory # mon0000120760
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A Walk with Tom Jefferson
Published by
Alfred A. Knopf May 1988, 1988
ISBN 10: 0394570383
ISBN 13: 9780394570389
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Hardcover
Seller: Kazoo Books LLC, Kalamazoo, MI, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Used - Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1988. Very Good/Very Good. Blue cloth covers with black Dj. Small closed tear on Dj at top spine tip. 9.5x6.25 with 64 pp. Seller Inventory # 135287
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A Walk with Tom Jefferson: Poems.
Published by
Knopf,, NY:, 1988
ISBN 10: 0394570383
ISBN 13: 9780394570389
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Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: Grendel Books, ABAA/ILAB, Springfield, MA, U.S.A.
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Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. Stated first edition. Light mottling to cloth covered boards, else very good in a very good dust jacket. Seller Inventory # 105429
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A Walk with Tom Jefferson
Published by
Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1988
ISBN 10: 0394570383
ISBN 13: 9780394570389
Used
Hardcover
Seller: West Side Book Shop, ABAA, Ann Arbor, MI, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. First Edition / 2nd Printing. iv + 64 pp + (4), Stated 2nd printing, poems grouped in 4 parts. The 4th part is made up of the book's title poem. 6.3" x 9.5" cloth boards, in clipped DJ with acetate protector. Size: Slim Octavo. Book. Seller Inventory # 009302
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A Walk with Tom Jefferson
Published by
Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1988
ISBN 10: 0394570383
ISBN 13: 9780394570389
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: DogStar Books, Lancaster, PA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine. First Edition; First Printing. tall 8vo 9" - 10" tall; 64 pages; 1988 Alfred A. Knopf. Tall octavo HC/DJ. First edition, first printing. Snugly bound and very neat in sharp edged and uniformly bright pictorial dust jacket with publisher's $16.95 issue price intact to unclipped front flap. No marks of any kind. Whisper of shelf evidence to jacket edges. Handsome copy. NF/NF. Seller Inventory # 58183
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A Walk with Tom Jefferson: Poems by Philip Levine
Published by
Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1988
ISBN 10: 0394570383
ISBN 13: 9780394570389
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: Classic Books and Ephemera, IOBA, Lansdowne, PA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: near fine. [10], 64, [6] p.; 24 cm. Blue cloth with silver spine title; blind-stamped cover title. Illustrated dust jacket. Stated First Edition. Contains 20 poems, including the title poem, about "the way we work and don't work in a society that has abandoned so many of its citizens, and how we endure, since that is the only choice we have. The landscapes are largely Detroit, rural California, and New York City, as well as the kingdoms of memory." -- dust jacket. Book is in Near Fine Condition: black remainder mark on top page edges; otherwise, clean and tight. Dust jacket is in Near Fine Condition: slightly rubbed; clean and bright. Seller Inventory # 008495
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A Walk with Tom Jefferson
Published by
Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1988
ISBN 10: 0394570383
ISBN 13: 9780394570389
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: stoney cove books, Cambridge, MD, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine. 1st Edition. Bound in blue cloth with embossed title on the cover and gold on the spine, this book of twenty poems is unmarked, though the board cover is lightly mottled. The dust jacket is near fine, unclipped and bright. Seller Inventory # 000187
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A Walk with Tom Jefferson
Seller: GoldBooks, Denver, CO, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: new. Seller Inventory # 51H54_89_0394570383