Jeff Friedman is the author of two previous collections of poetry, Scattering the Ashes and The Record-Breaking Heat Wave. His poems have appeared in American Poetry Review, Poetry, Antioch Review, New England Review, and other magazines and have won a fellowship from the New Hampshire State Arts Council, the Editor's Prize from The Missouri Review, and the Milton Dorfman Poetry Prize. He teaches at Keene State College and lives in West Lebanon, New Hampshire.

About Taking Down the Angel:

"These are poems of memory; in the the past is revived in exact and painfully loving detail. We have seen and heard much of it before and it does not seem to matter: rarely has the pity of it all been so poignantly expressed, and in a style appropriately both flat and lyrical. The book holds the kind of experience you could make a movie out of, not a big box-office hit but a satisfying small family drama and of course I mean this as praise."
—Donald Justice

"There are no sleepers here. These powerful poems invite you in, pour you a cold drink, and quietly close the door behind you. For what feels like a welcomed eternity, Jeff Friedman's voices painfully confess, lovingly describe, and outside, in the dark quiet of trees, seduce. With masterful turns of phrase and surprise, these poems leave you feeling rejoined with missing relatives and friends—and prophets who still remember how to throw a punch."
—Dvzinia Orlowsky

"This book is a joy to read. Jeff Friedman's poems are so clear and unpretentious that you're already halfway through the collection before you realize what an achievement it is. The poems of Taking Down the Angel are moving, honest, masterfully crafted, and they tell a profoundly American story."
—David Huddle