A unique collection of poetry so powerful that 100 grown men—bestselling authors, poets laureate, and other eminent figures from the arts, sciences, and politics—have been moved to tears. Here they deliver touching and insightful personal introductions to a range of beloved poems. Grown men don’t cry. But in this fascinating anthology, one hundred men—distinguished in literature and film, science and architecture, theater and human rights—confess to being moved to tears by poems that continue to haunt them. Representing twenty nationalities and ranging in age from their early 20s to their late 80s, the majority are public figures not prone to crying. Here they admit to breaking down when ambushed by great art, often in words as powerful as the poems themselves. Their selections include classics by visionaries such as Walt Whitman, W.H Auden, and Philip Larkin, as well as contemporary works by masters including Billy Collins, Seamus Heaney, Derek Walcott, and poets who span the globe from Pablo Neruda to Rabindranath Tagore. Seventy-five percent of the selected poems were written in the twentieth century, with more than a dozen by women including Mary Oliver, Elizabeth Bishop, and Gwendolyn Brooks. Their themes range from love in its many guises, through mortality and loss, to the beauty and variety of nature. Three men have suffered the pain of losing a child; others are moved to tears by the exquisite way a poet captures, in Alexander Pope’s famous phrase, “what oft was thought, but ne’er so well express’d. From J. J. Abrams to John le Carré, Salman Rushdie to Jonathan Franzen, Daniel Radcliffe to Nick Cave, Billy Collins to Stephen Fry, Stanley Tucci to Colin Firth, and Seamus Heaney to Christopher Hitchens, this collection delivers private insight into the souls of men whose writing, acting, and thinking are admired around the world. Amnesty International, sponsor of this anthology of poems chosen by men prominent in various fields, explains its involvement by noting that prisoners of conscience are often poets. Indeed, one of those poet-prisoners, the Malawian Jack Mapanje, whom Amnesty International helped, is a contributor here. Unusually, he says that his selection, Brecht’s “The Burning of the Books,” makes him cry with laughter—“Don’t ask me why.” The other contributors report soberer tears, internal as well as overt, in reaction to the poems they selected, works that powerfully protest death or poignantly acknowledge it; that embrace despair or, with surprise, discover hope; that mourn personal loss or feel the pangs of the constant, general losses that make up all existence; that stand in awe of love or of the possibility that love is not enough. Some may consider it significant that there is not a trace of religious consolation throughout the book; Matthew Arnold’s “Dover Beach” isn’t among the selections, yet its spirit is everywhere. The selections are overwhelmingly Anglophone and twentieth-century; the selectors, mostly writers, filmmakers, and actors. --Ray Olson “The Holdens remind us that you don't have to be an academic or a postgraduate in creative writing to be moved by verse…I defy anyone not to enjoy the Holdens' book: It's plain fun.” ― Wall Street Journal "Everyone who reads this collection will be roused: disturbed by the pain, exalted in the zest for joy given by poets." -- Nadine Gordimer ― winner of the Nobel Prize “ Poems That Make Grown Men Cry is an anthology of some of the most emotive lines in literature chosen by 100 famous and admired men, ranging from Daniel Radcliffe to Nick Cave, John le Carré and Jonathan Franzen.” ― The Guardian “This collection is about the emotional power of art, and the Holdens cast aside any accusations of sentimentality or mawkishness. Anyone who reads Poems That Make Grown Men Cry will be roused, disturbed and exalted by the poems selected.” ― Shelf-Awareness.com “I most enjoyed the brief introduction each contributor gave their selected poem. The stories behind the poems that moved them to tears were often just as emotional and passionate… I would recommend this as a gift to the poetry-lover in your life - whether they're a man or a woman.” ― Examiner.com “Yes, this book will make an ideal gift for the men in your life, particularly those who shudder at the very thought of reading poems. And, of course, as Nadine Gordimer’s and my personal examples prove, it can be enjoyed by everyone, regardless of gender or nationality. After all, that is the power of poetry: how it can speak to each one of us individually and intimately.” ― Storyacious.com Anthony Holden is an award-winning journalist who has published more than thirty books, including He Played For His Wife…And Other Stories and biographies of Laurence Olivier, Tchaikovsky, and Shakespeare. He has published translations of opera, ancient Greek plays, and poetry. He was director of European Film and Television at Exclusive Media, where he helped relaunch Britain