The New Spoon River by Edgar Lee Masters. Introduction by Willis Barnstone. Published by Collier Books in 1968.

Available for the first time in many years the full text of Edgar Lee Masters' continuation of his famous Spoon River Anthology. The New Spoon River describes in 322 microbiographies the spiritual and physical agony of a small American town. As in the original Anthology, the lives and relationships of the citizens of Spoon River are interwoven; but here the view that emerges is of a town's response to the encroachments of industry and urban life. Masters describes the people who leave, the new people who come in , those who adjust, others who insulate themselves and cling to the old Spoon River. The result is an unforgettable portrayal of a small American town in the 1920's-and of the painful clash of conflicting values in American life.

Introduction by Willis Barnstone. In his introduction, Willis Barnstone discusses the genesis of the entire Spoon River sequence, compares The New Spoon River with its predecessor, and assesses Masters' place in the canon of modern American poetry.