It was edited by American poet and publisher Douglas Messerli – under his own imprint Sun & Moon Press – and includes poets from both the U.S. and Canada.

It joined two other collections which appeared at that time: Paul Hoover's Postmodern American Poetry (Norton, 1994) and Eliot Weinberger's American Poetry Since 1950 (Marsilio, 1993).

All three perhaps seeking to be for that time what Donald Allen's The New American Poetry (Grove Press, 1960) was for the 1960s.

Publishers Weekly noted that "A strength of Messerli's book: he offers space enough to each poet, so that readers can trace developing poetic concerns, beginning with the Objectivists – the anthology's first poem is Charles Reznikoff's 'Children,' a Holocaust piece."

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