Rating: 
Summary: Great start, then downhill
Review: Anthologies are always hard to review because they contain such varied works from such varied writers. The 1999 version of this book is very good indeed, with lots of easy-to-read works. Most of the poems inside are simple and to the point, with nothing too abstract or creative. I must admit I didn't enjoy reading this book as much as I do anthologies with more varied styles, but if you're looking for a good book to curl up with over a cup of tea then this book will be a real treat.
Rating: 
Summary: A Great Selection of American Poetry
Review: As both a poet and a literature teacher who specializes in modern American verse, I have endured the stereotypical attacks upon modern verse many times. Why is it so hard to read? Why are poets so introspective? Why does poetry even exist at all? Robert Bly's selections for the Best American of 2000 answers all of these attacks with grace and gusto. These poems made me ask not "Why does poetry exist?" but rather, "Why doesn't more poetry exist?" This collection has great new offerings from Philip Levine, Louis Gluck, Denise Levertov, and other modern American masters. These poems aren't hard to read, and they aren't obscure. Modern American verse asks that its reader thinks for himself. If the reader isn't willing to participate actively in these poems, he will likely fail to enjoy them. I always look forward to the best in American poetry every year, and 1999's anthology is a great addition to this series.
Rating:
Summary: Harold Bloom woke this series up!
Review: Bloom's scathing, right-on-the-mark intro to 1997's Best of the Best seems to have breathed new life into this series. John Hollander has followed in the footsteps of Bloom by choosing poems that represent a wide range of styles, talents, and persuasions, but share one thing- poetic excellence. Though I'd like to see more selections from smaller presses, I'm delighted to have a book of 1998 poetry that doesn't advance a political agenda or look beyond the poems themselves to find meaning and value. Craig Arnold's "Hot" is worth the cover pirce alone- a poem that resonates, haunts, and changes on every re-reading. Selections by Ammons, Bly, Ashbery, and Strand show these masters at their finest. Bloom revitalized this once-sleepy series last year, and Hollander follows with a selection of poems that is even better than the Best of the Best. If you fear that we have lost our poetic magic in the late 20th century, this book will give you cause to reconsider.
Rating: 
Summary: Far from the worst of the series
Review: hollander isn't the guest ed as 1st review indicates--wrong year - (not for posting)
Rating:
Summary: "safe"
Review: I always enjoy reading volumes in this series. I even enjoyed reading Bloom's anthology, though I am fiery trajectory away from his strange reactionary stancecademic approach... THIS volume, is subtle, a pleasant read...but alas, "safe." With some notable exceptions which I will not explicitly note here...the poems are warm milk before bed time, with a slightly pleasing taste of the fragrance of grass of this particular field, that particular pasture. Safe is nice...and of course has a certain beauty.... With an anthology like those in this series however, I'd like a few showers of fish and frogs on my Spring morning walk...a few beautifully sharp briars scratching my shins...
Rating:
Summary: Refreshingly accessible
Review: I look forward to each new installment of the BAP series, and I appreciate the unique gloss that each guest editor puts on "their" edition. I enjoy some volumes more than others, and Bly's is one of my favorites. I wearied of the political stridency in Adrienne Rich's 1996 volume, and John Hollander's 1998 volume was a bit too formalistic. Bly's volume, though, contains a nice selection of accessible, incisive and sparkling poems--crisp, pungent and immediate.
Rating:
Summary: Refreshingly accessible
Review: I look forward to each new installment of the BAP series, and I appreciate the unique gloss that each guest editor puts on "their" edition. I enjoy some volumes more than others, and Bly's is one of my favorites. I wearied of the political stridency in Adrienne Rich's 1996 volume, and John Hollander's 1998 volume was a bit too formalistic. Bly's volume, though, contains a nice selection of accessible, incisive and sparkling poems--crisp, pungent and immediate.
Rating:
Summary: A book worth buying
Review: I really enjoyed Robert Bly's introduction about 'the heat'. All genuine artists are aware of 'the heat' in some way or the other; Heat is what was to Ezra Pound his definition of 'image'. We can even trace 'the heat' back to the idea of catharsis in Aristotle's Poetics. The moments of knowing, human growth, liberation from certain limits are essential aspect of human being that is universal, and it is not confined by any gender or racial limits. This is particularly important because it removes oneself from the influence of multiculturalism and feminism which we hear so often. The anthology itself presents us with finest examples of 'the heat' by contemporary poets. Many thanks to Peggy Steele, Revan Schendler, Robert Creeley, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and everyone else in the anthology for their excellent works. It is nice to know that I can still find good poetry, even though it may be few.
Rating: 
Summary: best and not so best poetry
Review: If you like Robert Bly, then you won't mind that he has chosen poems much like his style. If prose poems drive you to commit violent acts, then you should avoid most of this book. There is a variety of poems in quality, varying from trite, to excellent. It is a good starting place if you want to find new poets to read, but the poems represented may not be their best poetry.
Rating: 
Summary: A rapsody of poetic rubbish and deformation.
Review: This is by far one of the most turgid and emotionally defunct volumes of poetry I've ever encountered in my life. It is evident after reading this ongoing series over the course of many years, that the editors are limited by the myoptic heralding of the "reputable presses." My students hated it, and I'm starting to agree with Bukowski that the poetry being written today is cowardly and tends to color the world in such a way that the world itself is no longer recognizable. This volume supercedes all expectations in that it not only lacks the "gusto" to communicate the "world" around us, but the poems sound more like an expression of mythopoesis, and the poetasters are merely surviving either off the reputation that they have built for themselves or the publication's reputation. There was only one poem that was ingenuous with its imagistic phrasing, but this lugubrious and often quixotic collection fails to capture the heart of our present day idealogical and societal conflicts. It fails to express our human angst, and in its feeble attempts to do so, most all of the poems have created conundrumic worlds that the reader must trudge through laboriously. Avoid this one at all costs. This is not a page turner...and by now, I think the editors should realize that the poetic audience wants some aggressive blood in there. Either way, if this is the best America has to offer then I need to relocate.
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