The Library of America has published "On Democracy," a new 210-page collection of Walt Whitman's writings, introduced by David Bromwich and priced at $12.50. The volume offers insights into the United States during Whitman's lifetime, a period marked by profound change and development.

Born in 1819, Whitman grew up in an era when traversing Long Island took days and was best done on foot. Brooklyn, then independent of New York City, was a rural area inhabited by Quakers, freethinkers, and educators. Whitman himself became a teacher as a teenager and notably included a student of color in his classes, an uncommon practice at the time.

Whitman's formative years coincided with a turbulent era in New York City's history, as the city and its surroundings rapidly transformed into the nation's population and economic center. This period saw significant political upheaval, which Whitman critiqued sharply. He described the political landscape as rife with corruption, stating, "The berths, the Presidency included, are bought, sold, electioneered for, prostituted, and filled with prostitutes." He also warned of the prevalence of "swarms of dough-faces, office-vermin, kept-editors, clerks, attaches of the ten thousand officers and their parties, aware of nothing further than the drip and spoil of politics—ignorant of principles, the true glory of a man."

Whitman's writings complement individualism with a broader feeling of community, reflecting the complexities of his time. His home environment was emblematic of a bygone rural America, described as "old wooden fences, dirt roads, a few lonely wisps of chimney smoke out in the hilly distance."

This collection is a fitting read as the United States marks its 250th birthday, offering a window into the nation's past through the eyes of one of its most iconic literary figures.

Sources