For decades Adrienne Rich was the female face of American poetry, and her forceful, uncompromising writing has more than stood the test of time. Motivated by personal revelations, Rich transformed herself from a traditional, Radcliffe educated lyric poet and married mother of three sons into a pathbreaking lesbian-feminist author of prose as well as poetry. From a wealth of unpublished materials, Rich's correspondence, and in-depth interviews, Hilary Holladay portrays her in vivid, human detail.