Women of the Beat Generation: The Writers, Artists and Muses at the Heart of a Revolution

This a good addition to the true beat fan's bookshelf. The histories of the women who took part in the beat movement and the excellent photos are worth the price alone. But you may find yourself surprised by the quality of some of the work. I ended up reading "Door Wide Open" by Joyce Johnson after finishing this book and enjoyed it immensely. The section on Denise Levertov is great as well.

W.B. Yeats and the Muses

W.B. Yeats and the Muses explores how nine fascinating women inspired much of W.B. Yeats's poetry. These women are particularly important because Yeats perceived them in terms of beliefs about poetic inspiration akin to the Greek notion that a great poet is inspired and possessed by the feminine voices of the Muses. Yeats found his Muses in living women. His extraordinarily long and fruitful poetic career was fuelled by passionate relationships with women to and about whom he wrote some of his most compelling poetry.