Preface by Dana Wilde i Preface by Jerry W. Ward, Jr. v Chapter 1 A Critic’s Historical Mission ―An Interview with Professor Charles Altieri 1 Chapter 2 A Representative of the Best Black Studies ―An Interview with Professor Houston A. Baker, Jr. 6 Chapter 3 A Sketch of the Occupy Wall Street Movement Poet ―An Interview with Stephen Boyer 14 Chapter 4 A Historical Novelist Who Crosses the Borderline of History and Fiction ―An Interview with Geraldine Brooks 22 Chapter 5 A Writer’s Playwriting and His Other Working ―An Interview with Harold Ellis Clark 31 Chapter 6 A Woman Writer and Editor of Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States ―An Interview with Professor Martha J. Cutter 38 Chapter 7 Never Too Old to Write ―An Interview with Professor Ann Deagon 44 Chapter 8 Writing Inside Out ―An Interview with Anne Fadiman 54 Chapter 9 “Living with the Dead” against Death ―An Interview with Fred Gardaphe 58 Chapter 10 A Black Writer’s Political Polemics ―An Interview with Professor Floyd W. Hayes 68 Chapter 11 A Haiku Poet with a History to Tell ―An Interview with Thomas Heffernan 79 Chapter 12 Literature as a Lens for Social Change ―An Interview with Dr. Sarah Hentges 89 Chapter 13 A Spokesperson for Native American Poetry ―An Interview with Joy Harjo 102 Chapter 14 Rethinking Human Health and Animal Rights ―An Interview with John Lawson 107 Chapter 15 A Critic of Nineteenth-Century American Literature and Culture ―An Interview with Professor William E. Lenz 115 Chapter 16 Cultural Criticism and the Politics of African American Literature ―An Interview with Dr. Reginald Martin 123 Chapter 17 A Champion of the Humanist Legacy ―An Interview with R. Baxter Miller 131 Chapter 18 A Politically Committed Poet ―An Interview with E. Ethelbert Miller 140 Chapter 19 English Language Haiku Poet and Mentor ―An Interview with Lenard D. Moore 150 Chapter 20 A Silhouette of a Socially Committed Poet ―An Interview with Grace Ocasio 162 Chapter 21 A Smorgasbord of Different Savory Dishes on His Literary Table ―An Interview with David Radavich... 167 Chapter 22 A Professor Mixes Media in the Message ―An Interview with Howard Rambsy II 176 Chapter 23 Woman Scholar Keen on Periodical Literature ―An Interview with Susan Harris Smith 184 Chapter 24 A Researcher of Food Identity and Culture ―An Interview with Professor Wenying Xu 196 Chapter 25 Black Cultural Defender and Cross-cultural Advocate ―An Interview with Professor Jerry W. Ward, Jr 205 Chapter 26 An Environment Guarder ―An Interview with Mary Whitney 216 Chapter 27 A Sketch of a Follower of Henry David Thoreau in Maine ―An Interview with Professor Dana Wilde 222 Bibliography 232 Epilogue 240