Curating a century's worth of poetry is a daunting task, to be sure, certain to meet objections from readers with their own ideas about what should be included. Instead of caviling, though, let's celebrate the gigantic four-year effort former U.S. poet laureate Rita Dove put into The Penguin Anthology of 20th Century American Poetry. Her primary criteria for inclusion were simple: Is this a voice that will be remembered? Did he or she make an impact that mattered? With those two guidelines, she proceeds through the century chronologically. She laments the inability to represent certain important poets--including Sylvia Plath and Allen Ginsberg--because of reprint fees, and cites the arbitrariness of confining herself to the 1900-1999 time frame, but even within these limitations, the book is a treasure. Dove's chronicle of "witness" poets, feminists, writing workshop poets, African-Americans, Beats, New York School poets, giants of the genre and small voices that have endured is a tour de force that will be with us for a very long time. --Valerie Ryan, Cannon Beach Book Company, Oregon